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BOOK 973.56.J132 ZK c. 1
KARSNER # ANDREW JACKSON

3 T1S3 0D05Efi7T b

ANDREW JACKSON
THE GENTLE SAVAGE

Painting From Life by Samuel Waldo
Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of Art

GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON

About 1816

Andrew Jackson

THE GENTLE SAVAGE

David Karsner

PUBLISHERS

Brentano's

NEW YORK. 1929

-i^v^

This hook, copyi'ight Tp2p by Brentano's, Inc.,
has been manufactured in the United States of
America, the composition, electrotyping and
presswork by the Vail-Ballou Press, Bing-
hamton, N. Y., the binding by Harmon and
Irwin, Inc., New York City.

To the Memory of

my Mother and Father

I dedicate this hook

How shall we rank thee upon glory's page,
Thou more than soldier, and just less than sage?

Thomas Moore (1779-1852)

CONTENTS

/ Time for a Life Begins .

II The Emigrants Arrive

III Andy Jackson Goes to War .

IV Law Books and Fighting Cocks
V Solicitor and Tennessee Bad Man

VI Polishes His Pistols and Weds

VII Man of Many Affairs

VIII The Backwoods Statesman

IX A Judge on the Rampage .

X The Frontier Storekeeper .

XI The Killing on Red River

XII Jackson, Burr and Treason

XIII War Clouds Gather for 1812

XIV Off to War, Home to a Duel
XV War with the Creeks .

XVI Mutiny and Victory .

3
16

30
46

57
67

95
III
122
132

147
160

175
187

199

CONTENTS

., -•^^ -^. -•-.,

XVII

Jackson Talks with Cannons .

. 211

XVIII

The Battle of New Orleans .

. 224

XIX

The General Tests His Power

. . 240

More Hot Water and Florida

. . 250

XXI

Governor of Florida ....

. . 266

XXII

The Statesman Emerges .

. . 275

XXIII

The President

. 290

XXIV

''Millennium of the Minnows'' .

. . 301

XXV

Jackson Defends Peggy Eaton

. . 311

^ XXVI

The Jeremiah of Democracy .

. . 324

X XXVII

The War on the Bank

. . 340

^ XXVIII

Re-Election and the Nullifiers

351

XXIX

The End of the Reign

. . 366

XXX

Time for a Life Is Closed

. . 384

Acknowledgment . . . . .

• 397

ILLUSTRATIONS

Andrew Jackson, about 1816 frontispiece

Mrs. Rachel Jackson 74

John C. Calhoun 172

Henry Clay 264

What ''Pretty Peggy" Produced—

A Contemporary Cartoon 318

Andrezv Jackson, as President, about i8jj . . . 382

Facsimile of the Concluding Paragraph of a Letter

from General Jackson to F. P. Blair .... 394

ANDREW JACKSON
THE GENTLE SAVAGE

Chapter I
TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

LIFE, unmeasured and unhurried, takes all the time it
f seems to need for the development of its animate and
inanimate tokens of triumph and travail.

Life is a prodigal sower of the seed that laughs at the
harvest, and busies itself with hanging out the stars each
night and dusting off the sun for the day.

The life of man is a penny balloon which the wind has
blown into the center of things to help celebrate the per-
petual snake dance that has neither beginning nor ending.

Andrew Jackson was being piloted toward this earth
star hundreds, even thousands, of years before he ar-
rived. Being born, he became, as a poet said, "the om-
nibus of his ancestors." He was the latest visible emissary
to the earth of all that had transpired within his own
antecedent line, and much else besides.

Fear, courage, joy and sorrow that he was called upon
to confront had never been faced before in the same way
that these elements were presented to the baby, the boy,
the youth, the man, and the aged one, surfeited with
honors, who crept toward the grave in the sweet pastures
of his beloved Hermitage and rejoiced that the journey
was ended.

ANDREW JACKSON

His multiple problems, age-old and repetitive as they
were, were new to the child and to the man that was once
a child. That life, and the joys, sorrows, triumphs and
defeats that were the embroidery of it, belonged pecul-
iarly and singly to him.

He could not share them with a single soul. His ex-
perience would be of no avail to those who might follow
his seed, or trek in his trail. For none could be like him,
as none is like another. A man's life is an active current
that casts both light and shadow between two slumbering
poles. Thousands of years have combined to create it. It
is electric and dynamic. It is positive and negative. Oppo-
sition may cause it to be aggressive, or submissive, or
indifferent.

The chemical, cultural, and environmental forces that
were compounding in the antecedent line of a man's life
before the man arrived very largely determine the sort
of creature he will be at the beginning; but as the child
grows, the facets of his life, the things he sees, and says,
and does, and what others tell him they have seen, and
what others do to him, form his own prism. He weaves
his web, spider-like, and is the center of his own universe
■ — until Life, relentless and mocking, brushes his little
universe out of the crevice of the earth, and spins new
gossamer for another tenant.

It is difficult to trace back the direct line of Andrew
Jackson in the North of Ireland, but we know that certain
forces were at work nearly two hundred years before his
birth that would have definite effect upon his life. Though
the begetting of human life seems to be haphazard, it also
appears that certain races, and certain types of men of

TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

those races, have arrived at the time when they were most
needed for a specific task affecting the human family. The
theory of personal predestination is scarcely tenable, but
it is observed, nonetheless, that whenever the advancing
races require a task to be done there are men capable of
doing it, for weal or for woe, and it does not matter much,
except to the distributors of medals and parchments,
whether we call them Caesars, Napoleons, Washingtons
or Jacksons.

It is the fourth year of the seventeenth century, and
King James I is enjoying his reign over England. He
adheres to the belief that the monarch owns his country,
and he is beginning to find it extremely inconvenient to
think that a great number of landlords and merchants,
and intelligent persons generally are about to set a very
definite limit upon the prerogatives of the monarch and
his ministers.

The frequent wars had become expensive pastimes, for
the armies now consisted of paid troops and the soldiers
insisted upon their pay. Elaborate fortifications had been
built to conduct long sieges, and when the bills for these
trappings began to pile up in all the chancelleries of
Europe there was much unpleasantness among the kings,
princes and ministers over what to do. There were heard
ominous rumblings of protest against taxation that was
necessary if they were to continue diplomatic aggressions
and alliances. Actually, the princes discovered they were
not the masters of their subjects' lives and property, and
they were greatly dismayed. Finance, always a trouble-

ANDREW JACKSON

some matter in high places, had become a spectre in every
council chamber. It was like vinegar poured over the
dinner of the kings.

James did not have to stand upon the back stairs to
hear the gossip of protest against the expenses of state.
His ministers might bring the worrisome tidings with
them through the royal gates. But a king should be kingly
while on his throne, and so James, who enjoyed his job,
in his most royal manner said: "As it is atheism and
blasphemy to dispute what God can do, so it is presump-
tion and high contempt in a subject to dispute what a king
can do, or say that a king cannot do this or that.'^

If Andrew Jackson had been a studious man, which
he was not, and had taken time to discover the one per-
son more responsible than any other for the high destiny
that he was to attain, he might have found that King
James was not only the author of kingly precepts, but
was the founder in a very real sense of that portion of
North Ireland from whence the ancestors of Andrew
came. He might have discovered, also, that King James
laid the foundation for the American nation, for in 1606
the King gave a group of prosperous Englishmen per-
mission to plant colonies on the American coast between
Cape Fear River and Halifax, and in the following year
this group was to send over to America about one hun-
dred colonists who settled on an island near the mouth
of a river which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and
founded a colony which they called Jamestown in honor
of their King. Perhaps Andrew knew that this settlement
was the beginning of the State of Virginia and the genesis
of the American nation.

TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

Hence, Andrew, had he taken the time to reflect, might
have recognized in King James the founder of America
where Andrew was to win renown as a great warrior
and rule for eight years as the seventh President of the
United States in such fashion as to cause even the kings,
contemporary with his rule, to tremble with envy at the
idolatry and fear that Jackson's reign was to inspire in
the hearts of a free people.

Also, he might have discovered that King James, in
1604, sponsored the writing of a new text of the Bible
and gave it his imprimatur in 161 1 — the Bible that was
the constant companion and solace in the life of Andrew's
beloved Rachel, and the one book that he was to read
more than any other after her death as he sat alone in a
draughty room, by an open fire, a shawl draping his
shoulders, smoking his pipe, and frequently punctuating
his reading of her own copy with the thought of how it
happened that he had ever managed to reach the White
House.

But, strictly speaking, Jackson was never a meditative
man and he spent no time in dreaming. Least of all
would he ever have dreamt that he owed one thing or
thought to Great Britain. As a boy he had fought the
country of his fathers in the War for American Inde-
pendence, and as a man in 181 2 he had led another war
against England and driven her troops into the sea at New
Orleans. Andrew hated what he thought were great evils.
He could bestow his affection upon the most trivial pleas-
ures if they did not take too much time from thought and
action against the things and persons that so often pro-
voked him to outbursts of eloquent hatreds. He was an

ANDREW JACKSON

extrovert rather than an introvert. He was more in-
terested in deeds than dreams, more in accompHshment
than in the joy of fashioning it. The extroverts are the
doers, builders, organizers and pioneers. Day-dreaming,
v^hich the introvert indulges and perhaps weaves into a
poem or a picture, was not Andrew's sin.

About the same time that King James granted per-
mission for the first English colonists to settle in America,
he turned his eyes toward the North of Ireland and found
the country lying in waste and unpeopled after the long
wars. James, who doubtless wished to be remembered in
history as an efficient monarch, and who also was a
sagacious opportunist, careful to impress upon his flock
that he was their thoughtful shepherd, instead of bestow-
ing the lands upon courtiers and soldiers in large tracts,
divided them into small portions, which he granted to
settlers, with this admonition : "No one shall obtain grants
of land which he is unable to plant with men."

Hearing this, large numbers of Protestant Scotchmen
crossed a narrow firth and availed themselves of the
King's bounty. They settled in Ulster, intermarried with
the natives, and founded that sturdy, tenacious race
whose diverse qualities are so curiously blended — the
Scotch-Irish. They have always been tough, vehement,
gooH-hearted people — honest, prudent and persevering — ■
competent to grapple with stubborn affairs, and often dis-
playing an impetuosity which is Irish, and a persistence
which is Scotch. Their genius, as a rule, has shone in
pursuits other than the arts, and it is their trait to con-

TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

tend for what they think is just with pecuHar earnestness.
It is difficult for this race of men to allow an honest
difference of opinion. They are apt to regard the terms
opponent and enemy as synonymous, and once their
^'dander is up," as the old saying goes, they are likely to
pursue their quarry with a ferocity of spirit such as
was manifested in the old wars of the clans.

Many have observed that the racial characteristics of
these people are blended in different proportions in each
individual. In some the Scotch is uppermost, in others
the Irish. Some must sow their Irish w^ild oats before
coming to their Scotch traits, and others are shrewd and
cautious Scots in repose and ebullient Irish in contention.
Another trait of these people is to imbibe a prejudice or
belief with Irish readiness and cling to it with Scotch
tenacity.

America has been plentifully peopled with this race
of men. We should not have subdued the wilderness, tun-
nelled the mountains and spanned the rivers without them.
They came here to build and they have builded, these
Scotch-Irish, and their songs were repressed mostly by
labor and sweat, and the music they heard was the whack
of the axe and the pick. On the whole, their love of liberty
and regard for what they thought was right and just have
done honor to themselves and to America. The abounding
energy of these men made them fit pioneers, and enabled
them to do the ordinary things in a most extraordinary
and memorable manner.

America knows the Scotch-Irish. They have left their
impress in many halls. America is familiar with the names
of Sam Houston, Robert Fulton, David Crockett, Horace

ANDREW JACKSON

Greeley, James K. Polk, A. T, Stewart, John C. Calhoun,
and Andrew Jackson.

Carrickfergus, on the northern coast of Ireland, was
one of the antiquities of Europe when Belfast, nine miles
away, was an unknown hamlet. With the beginning of the
trading era, when the plow, the shuttle and the spinning
wheel succeeded the battle-axe in importance, Belfast be-
came an important trading center, in fact the most sig-
nificant and busiest city in Ulster. About 1750, Carrick-
fergus was a third rate seaport town. The name of the
place is derived from that of an ancient monarch who
was cast away and drowned. Legend says his body was
tossed up by the waves upon the crag. Its inhabitants num-
bered about one thousand, who were supported by fishing
and the manufacture of linen. For many generations the
forefathers of Andrew Jackson lived in this town. They
were fishermen, linen drapers and tenant farmers. They
were all poor and hard working, remarkable for nothing
but their uniform probity, their diligence and the in-
cessant earnestness with which they carried on.

Hugh Jackson, Andrew's grandfather, appears to be
the first of the line of whom there is any record, and
that is meagre enough. He was a linen draper, and in
the year 1760 he is supposed to have ''suffered" in a
''siege" of Carrickfergus. The incident is ridiculous. It
appears that one morning a French fleet of three armed
vessels sailed into the bay and anchored near the town.
The sailors were weary and looked forward, as most
sailors do, to a brief spell on land where they might rid

TIAIE FOR A LIFE BEGINS

themselves of thoughts that harass them at sea. For many
centuries there had stood on the crag an old castle that
was falling into ruins, and this was garrisoned by one
hundred and fifty men. The troops on the French ves-
sels, eager to land, were amazed that the mayor of the
town should deny them entry. He believed they came for
evil purpose. The French marched in and stormed the
castle. Fifty of their number fell dead before the gates
and another half hundred were wounded.

The Scotch-Irish defenders of the castle and of Car-
rickfergus did not learn until later that the French had
put in only for provisions. If Hugh Jackson suffered in
this ^'siege" it could not have been either severe or pro-
longed. He was the father of four sons, the youngest of
whom was Andrew, the father of this study. The sons,
like their parent, were poor and eked out an existence as
tenant farmers.

Andrew Jackson pere married Elizabeth Hutchinson,
daughter of a poverty stricken Presbyterian, which was
the faith of the Jacksons. Two sons were born of this
union in Ireland, Hugh and Robert.

Mrs. Jackson had several sisters, and all the Hutchin-
son girls, both before and after marriage, were weavers
of linen — Irish linen so much sought by meticulous
women of yesterday and of to-day. To produce this dur-
able fabric and to secure a living wage from it, the
Hutchinson girls, among whom was Andrew Jackson's
mother, were obliged to toil from sunrise until sunset,
and not infrequently the better part of the night.

Many a night Elizabeth Jackson tucked little Hugh
and Robert into their beds, bade Andrew, her husband,

ANDREW JACKSON

an early good-night and returned to her loom to work
through, maybe until dawn. The father, tired from his
day's labor on a farm not his own, had little time to pass
— and less inclination — in quiet and peaceful evening
hours with his wife and boys after the day's work was
done. They were proletarians in a very real sense, these
hardy parents of a future President of the United States.

When Andrew Jackson pere toiled on his few rented
acres in the North of Ireland, more than one hundred and
sixty years ago, the community still believed in brownies,
witches, fairies, spooks, evil eyes and charms. The
ducking-stool for scolding wives was still in use. An
historian of Carrickfergus has observed that they nailed
horse-shoes to the bottoms of their churns; were joyous
with the birth of a seventh son; fearful w4ien a dog
howled at night, or a mirror was broken; would negotiate
no enterprise on Friday, nor change their residence on
Saturday.

What is known as an Irish Wake originated there.
Those meetings were conducted with great decorum. Por-
tions of the Scriptures were read, and frequently a prayer
was pronounced. Pipes and tobacco were always laid out
on the table, and liquors or other refreshments were dis-
tributed during the night. If a dog or a cat passed over
the corpse it was immediately killed, as it was believed
the first person the animal would pass over afterwards
would be summarily dispatched. A plate with salt was
placed on the breast of the departed one to keep the body
from swelling.

On Shrove Tuesday all ate pancakes, and threw sticks
at chickens. The owner of the chicken received one penny

TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

for each throw until the fowl was killed. That custom
ceased about 1794. Easter Monday was a day of general
rejoicing and festivity, including cock-fights. On the eve
of May first boys and girls went to the fields and gathered
May flowers, and sprigs of rowan trees were stuck at the
tops of outside doors to keep out the witches.

There were all manner of superstitions and "signs"
about the weather, and many of these rustic customs and
beliefs were brought over by the emigrants and have sur-
vived in the United States to this day. Andrew Jackson,
himself, was reluctant to begin any new task on Friday,
and w^ould not do so if it could be avoided.

The loom and the land were exacting their price from
the lives of Andrew and Elizabeth. The father saw that
little Hugh and Robert were growing up. He thought it
was not just that they, like himself, should be forever
harnessed to the stubborn sod of the North of Ireland.
There was a new land across the ocean ! Reports about it
had been filtering back into England, Scotland and Ire-
land for a hundred years. True, the folks who had gone
over there had had a hard time, the same as it was in the
old land. But then it was new, and that was much.

At least one of Elizabeth's numerous sisters was al-
ready in America and four others were preparing to go
soon. These adventures to America got to be the talk of
the town. Men in the fields would stop suddenly and lean
on the handles of their plows and gaze in the direction
of the New World. Thoughts would come unbidden, and
those thoughts would often change the direction of their

ANDREW JACKSON

lives. Like as not such thoughts in the head of a North of
Irelander has more than once altered and re-directed the
character of a city, a state, the American nation itself —
these thoughts dreamed by Scotch-Irishmen in the green
fields of Erin.

Andrew and Elizabeth Jackson allowed they were
thrifty and honest. They knew, too, that each worked as
hard as human endurance would permit. Little it was they
got for their pains. What say, Andrew! It could not be
worse in the New Land, and it might be better. What
say, Elizabeth! They asked each other the question with
their eyes turned westward toward the green waters upon
whose bosom many boats had glided safely to American
shores. They were not old people yet and the land was
new. The King and his courtiers would be far away.
There would be an end for them to those harassing politi-
cal problems that had beset Ireland for so long and made
of her the football of British politics.

Hugh and Robert could grow up in a fresh country
among people who had dreams instead of only memories.
What say, Andrew ! What say, Elizabeth I

The year is 1765. King George III has been reigning
for five years. The American colonies have been resist-
ing the Stamp Act, and in the following year it will re-
ceive another blow when Benjamin Franklin bears his
testimony against it in the House of Commons. In Ger-
many they were just beginning to call Frederick II ''the
Great," and in France Louis XV, the froHcsome one, was
mourning the death of Pompadour. In the colonies there

TIME FOR A LIFE BEGINS

was much talk about a man named Washington who Hved
in Virginia. It was said that he had distinguished him-
self as a Colonel of the militia of that province when the
Provincial Governor had sent him to halt the invasion
of the French and Indians at Laurel Ridge. But that was
ten years earlier.

He was being talked about quite generally now, for al-
ready there were rumblings of discontent in the colonies.
Maybe it would all blow over. In any case what was being
talked about in the provinces was of no immediate in-
terest to Andrew and Elizabeth Jackson, who were busy
packing their few articles of clothing preparatory to the
great adventure in the Western World.

They come aboard the ship, accompanied by three of
their neighbors, James, Robert and Joseph Crawford.
James was married to one of Elizabeth's numerous sis-
ters. Samuel Jackson, a brother of Andrew pere, thought
he would not go over just yet. There were things to do
around the place. After all, everybody could not desert
Ireland for America. Maybe he would follow in a little
while if Andrew's letters back home seemed to bear glad
tidings. No matter what Andrew wrote back home, if
indeed he wrote anything, Samuel packed his bag and
came over, establishing himself in Philadelphia, where he
enjoyed a long residence under rather comfortable con-
ditions.

Samuel's predominant trait appears to have been Scotch.
He seems to have divined that misfortune might trail his
brother Andrew, and, being canny, possibly decided it
would be wiser, should he come to America, not to involve
himself too much with Andrew's affairs. He never did.

Chapter II
THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

THE boat puts in at the shore of Charleston, South
CaroHna, and Andrew Jackson, with heavy sacks
thrown across each shoulder, tries to help Elizabeth, who
also is laden with bundles, down the gangplank to a firm
footing on land, while he watches out of the tail of his
eye Hugh and Robert, who are tugging after. He jerks
his big shoulders and tosses off the sacks. Elizabeth puts
her bundles down and gazes about her wonderingly. Her
sister, wife of one of the Crawfords, talks a great deal,
but Elizabeth does not hear much that she is saying. All
are glad the long voyage is over. It was not a particularly
pleasant trip for those who did not know exactly where
they were going, and had but little funds to fall back
upon if all 'did not go well. Andrew has least of all.

They ask directions to the Waxhaw Settlement where
many of their kindred and countrymen had already estab-
lished themselves. It was a case of sheep following sheep.
They are told that the settlement lies one hundred and
sixty miles to the northwest of Charleston, and they must
make the trip by stage coach in relays.

The settlement, named Waxhaw by Indians, had been
the tribal seat of the Red-skins. The region was watered

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

by the Catawba River, a branch of which was called
Waxhaw Creek. Waxhaw straddled the provinces of
North Carolina and South Carolina. It appears that most
of the inhabitants of that particular region did not know
which province they lived in, and did not bother to find
out.

The lands along the boundary that once composed the
ancient settlement are still called the Waxhaws.

The Crawfords, who came over with the Jacksons
from County Antrim, Ireland, bought a piece of land
near the center of the settlement, on Waxhaw Creek.
Less work would have to be done with it to effect a clear-
ing than w^ith some other lands round about. It looked
like a pretty good place to settle down. There was wilder-
ness farther along the creek — great, heavy timbers — but
Jim Crawford saw no reason why he should give himself
unnecessary work.

Andrew Jackson, however, because he had come to a
new country, persists in building his cabin on virgin earth.
When he left Ireland he was determined to make a new-
start. There would be nothing pending from any previous
experience save his power to wield another axe. He might
have done the easier thing, like Jim Crawford, and pitched
his shack upon the ground of the settlement itself. In-
stead he travels seven miles more, halting on new land
which had never known the incision of spade or plow. He
decided he would work out his future here, on the banks
of Twelve Mile Creek, another branch of the Catawba
River. Seventy-five years ago, and nearly a century after
its occupancy by the elder Jackson, this spot was called
"Pleasant Grove Camp Ground." If Andrew the elder

ANDREW JACKSON

could have known that, it would have been some con-
solation for the agony of labor that was his portion in
being the first to assault that ''howling wilderness."

As cheap as ground was in the pre-Revolutionary days,
when the colonies had little else but land and timber,
Andrew Jackson pere was too poor to afford the purchase
of the tract on which he had settled.

Research done by many hands into the archives of
the Carolinas for the last three quarters of a century has
failed to yield any evidence that General Jackson's father
owned a foot of ground in this country. He was a tenant
farmer in Ireland ; he was a backwoodsman here, without
title to the ground that he was preparing for unnum-
bered harvests that others would reap.

Andrew Jackson, the elder, fought against the wilder-
ness on Twelve Mile Creek, and conquered it in two
years. He had made a clearing with the scanty tools that
he possessed ; he had marked out a patch for a farm and
had raised one crop ; he had built a home.

And now Andrew Jackson was dead. If ever there lived
a man whose soul and sinew was consecrated to the de-
vouring god. Toil, he was the father of General Jackson.
For two short years, which probably were two eternities
for Andrew and Elizabeth, these pioneers toiled in the
Carolina woods. Together they had built a log-house and
called it home. Together they rolled heavy stones back
off the virgin earth that it might yield them food. An-
drew with his axe felled heavy timbers that came crash-
ing through the cathedral of trees, and together they

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

tugged at them, moving them an inch at a time, until
they had made a space so that the sun might warm their
sturdy cabin.

And now the pioneer was dead. But the grim frontiers-
man from the North of Ireland had left seed for another
cycle. Betty Jackson would see to that !

It was a cold, bleak, sleety March day in 1767 when
they lifted the broken body of Andrew Jackson into a
springless farm cart borrowed from a neighbor. The plain
box coffin is pushed to one side of the cart, so that the
widow and the boys and one or two of the Crawfords
might sit on an improvised bench opposite the corpse and
accompany it to Waxhaw Cemetery. This ancient burial
ground is in Lancaster County, South Carolina, a few
miles from the North Carolina border. More than half
a century ago it was described as *'a strange and lonely
place." It has been used as a burying ground for nearly
two centuries, and among its tenants are the bones of
General William Richardson Davie, a noted Revolution-
ary soldier and Governor of North Carolina.

The spot where Andrew Jackson lies is known by the
stones that mark the graves of his relatives in the Set-
tlement. There is no stone to mark his grave. In a sense,
the early history of that section is bluntly written upon
those slabs which long since have crumbled. In the mid-
dle of the nineteenth century these lines were still de-
cipherable upon one of them, written in the Jacksonian
manner :

"Here lies the body of Mr. William Blair, who de-
parted this life in the 64th year of his age, on the 26. day

ANDREW JACKSON

of July, A. D., 1 82 1, at 9 p. M. He was born in the county
of Antrim, Ireland, on the 24th day of March, 1759.
When about thirteen years old, he came with his father
to this country, where he resided till his death.

^'Immediately on his left are deposited the earthly re-
mains of his only wife, Sarah, whose death preceded his
but a few years.

"He was a revolutionary patriot, and in the humble
station of private soldier and wagon-master, he con-
tributed more to the establishment of American inde-
pendence than many whose names are proudly emblazoned
on the page of history."

Betty Jackson lacks the heart to return to the log
cabin on Twelve Mile Creek. If there is anything there
she wants then some day she may send Hugh and Robert
up the trail to fetch it. There is nothing she wishes now
save quiet words and the light of friendly faces. The
ring of Andrew's axe is still in her ears, and Andrew is
in the earth. She turns to Charlie Findly, who had sup-
plied and driven the cart that hauled her man to his final
peace, and asks him to take her to George McKemey's
house.

McKemey is the husband of Margaret, another sister
of Mrs. Jackson, and Betty knows she will be welcomed
in the McKemey cabin, although she has decided to pro-
ceed to the home of another brother-in-law, James Craw-
ford, a little later. Just now she must stay with the
McKemeys. Their place, in Mecklenburg County, North
Carolina, is the nearest stop from the Waxhaw Cemetery,
while the Crawford homestead lies a few miles away, in

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

the province of South Carolina, and it might take all
day to get there.

Elizabeth Jackson, called Betty by her relatives, has
great need of immediate rest. The McKemeys had heard
that Betty was ''in a family way."

Tw^o nights pass. On the third night Betty is seized
with labor pains, and messengers are sent hurriedly to
the homes of neighboring women to come quickly to
George McKemey's house. Mrs. Sarah Leslie, known in
the settlement as a midwife, comes posthaste across the
fields, bringing her small daughter, Sarah, with her, be-
cause she is afraid to leave Sarah alone in the cabin.
Indians are still prowling about, and the white women
take none too kindly to the Carolina nights.

It is the night of March 15, 1767. Andrew Jackson is
born in the home of George McKemey, in the Waxhaw
Settlement, Mecklenburg County, the province of North
Carolina. For a century and a half local leaders of pa-
triotic societies, statesmen at Washington, historians and
biographers of Andrew Jackson w^ill quarrel and debate
the question of whether he was born in North or South
Carolina. They will be led astray by President Jackson's
proclamation to the nullifiers of South Carolina whom he
addressed as ''Fellow citizens of my native State."

But there is abundant evidence adduced by James Par-
ton, a most pains-taking historian, and many others since
Parton wrote three quarters of a century ago, to support
the claim of North Carolina. General Jackson once said
that he was born in the McKemey cabin, which he be-

ANDREW JACKSON

lieved was in the province of South Carolina. He might
easily have thought as much, for the McKemey cabin
was less than a quarter of a mile from the boundary line
then separating the two provinces.

Many years ago the county was divided, and the section
in which Jackson was born was named Union to com-
memorate Jackson's silencing of the nullifiers of South
Carolina. In this manner did North Carolina rebuke her
sister state. It had first been proposed to call the county
Jackson, but the name Union was deemed a worthier com-
pliment, since the little county juts into South Carolina.

Betty Jackson remained at the McKemey home only
three weeks. She decided to leave Hugh, her eldest son,
behind to help McKemey on the farm, and proceeded with
Robert and the infant Andrew to the home of the Craw-
fords with whom the Jacksons just two years ago came
over from Ireland. Mrs. Crawford is an invalid and Jim
Crawford is glad to give shelter to Betty and her brats
in exchange for her talents as housekeeper. Thus Betty
has a home, even though her status in it is that of a "poor
relation." Surely not the most amiable of auspices, but
much better than trying to go it alone in the shack that
Andrew built up there on the Twelve Mile Creek.

Little Andy Jackson passed the first ten or twelve years
of his life in the home of his uncle, James Crawford. The
Crawford family was quite large and the master of it
was a man of considerable substance for one in a new
country.

No one has much time to give to Andy except to scold

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

him, for he seems always to be getting into mischief.
Neighbors come and complain to Mr. Crawford that
Andy has ''beat up" first this boy and then the other, and
Mr. Crawford goes straight to Betty Jackson and tells
her she must keep Andy from being a nuisance and
trouble maker among the other children, and Betty says
she will try her best to curb him. Betty, who has grown
stout, always seems to be knitting or spinning, and she
has not much time to keep a watchful eye upon Andy,
what with her constant duties as housekeeper in the large
Crawford family.

Wild turkeys and deer abound in the woods and little
Andrew Jackson, aged six years, already has asked his
mother for a gun. He sees tall men w^alking along the
stiff red clay roads, each with a bag of game on his back
and a gun slung across his shoulder. Andy stiffens his lit-
tle back and struts down the road, far behind them, mak-
ing himself believe he is a soldier, bringing up the rear.
Soldier talk is getting to be quite frequent round about,
and, though Andrew does not know what it means, he
likes to hear the talk. When none is looking he does a
solo parade in the house, just like the time he strutted
down the red road behind the hunters.

In the moonlight he sees the Waxhaw farmers and
their men gathered round a blazing fire of pine knots in
the forests, and some unnameable emotion that over-
whelms children — something akin to heroism and a great
longing to be grown up — surges through him, and he
wants to be like that, sitting beside a blazing fire in the
moonlight. In the daytime he watches the huge covered
w^agons rumbling along the rough roads, and now and

ANDREW JACKSON

then a farmer will pull up his horses and let little Andy
climb up on the seat. Once a farmer hoisted him upon a
horse, and that was heaven for Andy Jackson.

The time has arrived for Andy to be sent to a ''field
school.'* Now a "field school" in the old days was not
in a field at all, but was in a forest. After many crops of
cotton had exhausted the soil the fences were taken away
and the land became waste. In short order vigorous young
pines shoot up and soon the land is covered with a thick
growth of wood. About this time an itinerant school
teacher, ever on the lookout for just such a site as this,
arrives in the community, and he canvasses the farm
houses to find how many pupils he can corral if he should
build a shanty in the forest for a school. If the number is
satisfactory, the school teacher sets to work with the
lumber that the farmers have contributed, and builds a
school.

In the Fall when there is bite in the air the school-
master will plug the cracks between the boards with red
clay to keep out the wind and the cold, and a wood stove
at the far end of the room will do the rest, or at least
try. These were among the first school houses in America,
and, although reading, writing and arithmetic were all the
branches taught in that early day, the schools seem to
have done fairly well, judging by many examples of their
hardy product.

So here is Andy among a crowd of boys seated on a
slab bench. He is tall, slender, bright blue eyed, freckled
face and thick sandy hair that is cheating the scissors. His

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

feet are bare and his scant home-spun garments are
coarser than those of other boys. Mrs. Jackson tries to
impress upon Andy that he must be "a. learner." In her
mind she has mapped out his career. She wants him to
be a Presbyterian clergyman. Andy winces but says noth-
ing. That's a fine note ! If he is to be a clergyman he must
get a running start by being good now, which means that
he must not fight ; and Andy, while he does not especially
look for trouble, sees a lot of it lying about.

He soon outgrows the ''field school," and is sent to
another given the grand title of Academy, in the Waxhaw
Settlement. This school is a large log cabin, and is pre-
sided over by a kindly dominie. Doctor Humphries, who
in his crude way attempts to teach the languages and
prepare his pupils for college and the ministry. ''Sandy
Andy," as some of the boys came to call him, never got a
headache from studying his lessons. There is nothing to
show that he shirked them, but he fastened his atten-
tion more upon the pine knot fires blazing in the forests
at night, and listened, fascinated and held in thrall, to the
tall talk among men about Indian battles and the shooting
of deer and wild turkeys in the wilderness.

There is a tradition that young Jackson later attended
Queen's College in Charlotte, and this is supported by the
story that many years later a delegation of Charlotte
business men and farmers went to Washington to plead
with Congress to establish a mint in their region. They
said gold had been found in the hills. The delegation ap-
peared before President Jackson, and one of their num-
ber told the President that gold had been found in the
very hill on which Queen's College had stood. "Then

ANDREW JACKSON

it must have grown since I went to school there, for there
was no gold there then," replied the President. It was
this remark that laid the foundation for the belief that
Jackson attended school in Charlotte. It is supported by
no other evidence.

Andy Jackson was a wild, frolicsome, wilful, daring
and mischievous boy; generous to a friend and a holy
terror to an enemy. He simply would not believe there
lived a boy stronger than he, nor one who could defeat
him in quick thinking, or with fists or feet. There were
plenty of boys who could throw Andy in a wrestHng
match and did so, but Andy was on his feet again in a
flash, his arms and legs wrapped around the body of his
foe.

*T could throw him three times out of four," one of
his schoolmates used to say, "but he would never stay
throwed. He was dead game and never zvoiild give up."
There would be plenty of men in later years who could
give similar testimony of battles that they had had to
fight out with Andrew Jackson. Men, like the boys, found
he would never ''stay throwed."

At Doctor Humphries's Academy, Andy Jackson would
leave no particular mark by which to remember his pres-
ence there. The son of one of his schoolmates would
testify many, many years later that he had heard his
father speak of Jackson's "commendable progress in his
studies, of his ardent and rather quick temperament, and
was remarkably athletic."

Others would testify about you, Andy Jackson, that
to younger boys your mastery was never questioned, that
you were a generous protector, and that equals and su-

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE

periors alike would say that you were over-bearing, self-
willed, would listen to no reason that did not square with
your own. They would say you were ^'difficult to get
along with," that you were extremely sensitive and easily
offended, and that you were the only bully they ever saw
who was not also a coward.

Most of them took into account that Andy Jackson
had a rather special cause for much of his irritation. He
was afflicted with a childhood disease that manifested it-
self in "slobbering." Woe to the boy who made a jest of
that. He would not escape with his hide intact. In later
years none save would-be suicides would mention the
word "adultery" in the presence of Andrew Jackson.
There was special reason for that irritation, which we
shall examine later.

One day after school a group of boys gather around
Andy and hand him a gun which they have secretly loaded
to the muzzle. They want to have the pleasure of seeing
him fire it and at the same time have it kick him over
by the power of the discharge. Well, the pleasure is all
theirs for the nonce. Andy tumbles heels over head, but
he is on his feet in a flash — a tempest of passion — and his
eyes are blazing orbits of hate.

"By God! If one of you laughs I'll kill him!" he roars.
None laughs, and they every one slink away. He was a
swearing boy and a swearing man. There is none who
could hold a candle to his matchless art in combin-
ing oaths in chain-shot fluency and force. His combina-
tions were among the most picturesque ever known
on the frontier, or, for that matter, in the White
House.

ANDREW JACKSON

One afternoon the rain comes down in torrents, and
Andy does not go out to play. Instead he has a debate
with one of his numerous uncles on the subject of "What
makes a Gentleman?" Andrew says "Education." The
uncle says "Good Principles." Neither would yield his
ground, so the question was never settled.

What does Andrew Jackson learn at this school? In
truth, very little. He learned to read, and to write, and
to do simple arithmetic. He had a smattering of Latin.
He never wrote correct English unless he was so angry
that the proper words poured from him in a torrent and
he was innocent of their correct usage. At such times he
could deliver a veritable flood of vehement eloquence
upon paper, and so rapidly that his manuscript would be
wet two or three pages behind.

Andy Jackson was an atrocious speller. Not one single
public paper or document, or speech that bears his name
reached the public exactly as he wrote it. He was unable
to compose his papers grammatically, but he had the
good sense to surround himself with competent aids and
secretaries who could do so. Some of the most striking
paragraphs in his state papers and speeches that have
lived for nearly a century, and which are considered
peculiarly Jacksonian, Jackson never wrote. He would
write the first draft, and his aids would do the rest. They
became Jacksonian; they expressed his mind on the sub-
ject dealt w^ith, and if they did not do so, they were re-
written until they did express it perfectly.

It is not strange that Jackson was a bad speller and

THE EMIGRANTS ARRIVE
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^~^^^^^:-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^£^^^

composer. Noah Webster, the greatest of American lexi-
cographers, did not publish his dictionary until 1828.
Even his ''New and Accurate Standard of Pronuncia-
tion" was not available until 1784 (long after Andrew
had ''completed" his school years), and Webster's popu-
lar "Spelling Book" did not appear until 1785. The
provincial schools, if they used a dictionary as the basis
for grammar, very probably used Doctor Johnson's dic-
tionary, which appeared in 1755 and was in common
usage until 1782.

In the year 1776 an astonishing document was drafted
and signed in Philadelphia. It was called the Declaration
of Independence. Andrew Jackson was nine years old.
In a little while he would know to whom that solemn
paper was addressed and what it meant. The talk in the
colonies was not quite so tall now. War was upon them.

'r^iP'i^^^'T^:S'^S^S^''i'^^^'*^^^T^^f^'*^^^'*^^^'T':^''*^^'~i^^^''i^

Chapter 111
ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

TAKE the average boy, aged thirteen, and let him
participate in a revolutionary war against a foreign
enemy in his own home town, where his mother, many
of his relatives, his neighbors, and boy friends and foes,
may see him fighting, suffering and dying (the latter in
his mind), and you will equip him with a high-powered
imagination of his own resources and importance, and im-
plant in him a view of life that things worth while may
be attained only with the pistol and the sword, and that
all his adversaries of whatever nature are to be sum-
marily dispatched. This false view may very readily twist
and color his attitude toward people and events for the
rest of his life. At least we may surmise it was so in the
case of Andrew Jackson.

In the early Spring of 1780 nearly all the American
troops in South Carolina were concentrated in the city
of Charleston, and, when the place was taken with its
defenders on May 12, the people were at the mercy of
the British. Wherever the defenders attempted to make a
stand, bands of Red-coats and Tories were upon them. The
British were not more savage than engaged soldiers have
ever been anywhere, but when the relentless Tarleton,

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

leading his Dragoons along the red roads of the Waxhaws,
descended upon the peaceful settlement, butchering the
little American militia and ravaging the homes of the set-
tlers, the Americans may well have thought that the Brit-
ish were devils incarnate.

Andrew's elder brother Hugh had not waited for the
war to knock angrily upon his gate. A tall, slender, sensi-
tive fellow, like all the Jackson men, he had mounted his
horse the year before and joined the famous regiment of
Colonel Davie. Hugh fought in the ranks at the Battle of
Stono, and gave his life for freedom.

It is May 29, 1780. Tarleton, the British commander
in the Carolinas, decides to pursue to the death all Amer-
ican defenders in his sector. No doubt he directs his at-
tention to the Waxhaw Settlement because he knows
there dwells in this region a number of people recently
arrived from British dominions. The punishment to be
meted out to them will be more severe than in the case of
native Americans.

Three hundred British horsemen swoop down upon the
little community like a pack of hungry hyenas, killing
one hundred and thirteen militiamen and wounding one
hundred and fifty. Delighted with his masterpiece, Tarle-
ton and his Dragoons gallop away into the hills, leaving
the wounded to the care of the settlers. Betty Jackson,
the loss of her eldest boy still fresh in her mind, joins a
group of Waxhaw women in ministering to the needs of
the wounded in the Waxhaw church.

Andrew Jackson and his brother Robert assist their
mother in waiting upon the sick troopers. Under the roof
of the church, by his mother's side, Andy first sees what

ANDREW JACKSON

war is like. He does not recoil from what he sees, but in-
stead he burns with livid hatred of England, and in rage
he yearns to shoulder a musket and go forth to battle
to avenge the wounds of his neighbors and his brother's
death.

No sooner has Tarleton and his horsemen thundered
down the red roads, leaving a fretful peace to settle over
the community like a lull in a summer storm, than there
are rumors that Lord Rawdon, heading a large body
of Royal troops, is approaching. He demands of every
one a promise not to take part in the war hereafter.
Betty Jackson, her boys, and the Crawfords are among
those who refuse to subscribe to any such pledge, es-
pecially as it entails loyalty to King George. There are
many Americans who will subscribe to this pledge, but
they are mostly those who have large amounts of prop-
erty.

Some are fearful the Americans will lose the war and
they, as a consequence, will lose their property. Others,
though Americans, are more or less frankly Anglophiles.
Washington, himself a man of means and the owner of
a capacious estate, knows that the propertyless class make
up the bulk of his armies. They have ever so much less
to lose, and possibly ever so much more to gain should
independence of America be achieved.

As a result of Lord Rawdon^s threat, the Jacksons, in
company with others, abandon their home and flee to
the hills. Several times they attempt to re-establish them-
selves in Waxhaw only to be put to flight again by the

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

approaching enemy. Tarleton's massacre has kindled the
flames of war in all the Carolinas.

At last Andy Jackson and his brother Robert, who is
a few years his senior, have their chance. They mount
horses and are present at Sumpter's attack upon the
British post at Hanging Rock, where the defenders lost
their chance to score a briliant victory by beginning too
soon to drink the rum they had captured from their foe.
Andy carefully observes the movements of the troops.
His eyes scarcely leave the figure of Colonel Davie, a
brave and audacious soldier, who, more than any other,
was to become Andrew Jackson's model in the art of
war. Davie was bold in planning enterprises and cautious
in the execution of them. He was ever vigilant and un-
tiringly active. Andy, many years later, will put into
practise what he now learns from watching Colonel Davie
perform in the War for Independence.

It is the middle of August and General Gates has been
defeated by Cornwallis. It is the great disaster of the
war in the South. Cornwallis now moves his army toward
the Waxhaws, and once more Betty Jackson and the boys
take flight to the North.

Betty Jackson directs Andrew to the home of the Wil-
sons, who live a little above Charlotte. She finds refuge
for herself and Robert elsewhere. It is understood that
Andy will ''pay" for his board by doing chores about
the farm and the house. He is supposed to bring in
wood, pull fodder, pick beans, drive cattle and go to the
blacksmith shop when the farming utensils require mend-
ing. There is a boy in the Wilson home who is about the
age of Andrew and often they play and walk together.

ANDREW JACKSON

Andy's playmate some day will be a preacher in the com-
munity, and already he is shocked by the torrent of strong
language that Andy frequently uses to express what he
thinks and feels about the Red-coats.

Andy enjoys hopping upon his grass pony for a ride up
to the mill. Rarely does he return from the shops without
bringing some new weapon with which to kill. He has
accumulated quite a collection of spears, terrible looking
knives, clubs and tomahawks. But the one he likes the
best is the blade of a scythe fastened to a pole. One day
he assaults the weeds around the house with extreme
fury, making long vigorous strokes with his scythe.
Young Wilson hears him say:

**Oh, if I were a man, how I would sweep down the
British with my grass blade !"

Andrew is to remain at the Wilson home over the
winter and until early Spring. In February, 1781, peace
again rules in the Waxhaws because the settlement has
been subdued. The Jacksons creep back to their home
with the Craw fords, and for a time it seems that An-
drew may be able to resume his lessons. But this is not
to be. The great battles of the Revolution are over, but
in many of the states, particularly in the South, neighbor-
hood warfare flames up at the slightest provocation.
Brother against brother. Father against son. The country
is by no means united behind General Washington, al-
though complete victory for the Independence Cause is
only a few months off.

Nor is it to be supposed that the man-power of the
states has rushed to the standards of the Revolution. In

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

one or two of the southern states men had to be bribed
to go to war with offers of land grants. There are other
instances recorded of some men being promised the owner-
ship of one Negro slave, or sixty dollars, his equivalent,
if they would take up arms in behalf of freedom. The
"glittering generalities" of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, as some historians have described that remark-
able document, were often far more impressive among
the merchant and land-owning classes, who would not
have to do the fighting, than among the back-country folk
who were supposed to do it. Thus, we have many pic-
tures and stories of small boys shouldering men's guns
in the Revolutionary War.

Andrew and Robert, although they have not attached
themselves to any particular regiment, have frequently ac-
companied small bands of soldiers that march forth in
enterprises of retaliation. In this manner they have "par-
ticipated" in the Revolution, but now they are to play
a more active part in that bloody tableau.

3
The continued activity of the Whigs in the Waxhaws
has reached the ears of Lord Rawdon, and, as he has been
left in command of that sector by Cornwallis, he is de-
termined to clear the community if possible of the last
vestige of rebellion against the Crown, this despite the
fact that the Crown, so far as it relates to America, is
a relic ready for the museums and the history books.
Lord Rawdon dispatches a body of Dragoons to aid the
Tories in the region of the Waxhaws, and the settlers,

ANDREW JACKSON

hearing of this, are determined to make a stand against
the British troops, clad in scarlet tunics, their carbines
flashing in the sunlight.

The Waxhaw Meeting House has been chosen as the
rendezvous, and forty men are armed, awaiting the com-
ing of the storm. Andrew Jackson and his brother Robert
are in this gallant group. Andy can scarcely keep his fore-
finger off the trigger. He runs his nimble fingers down
the barrel of the gun, and impatiently awaits his prey. In
the grove surrounding the old church the forty Americans
watch for sight of the Red-coats, and while they wait
for the enemy they scour the landscape for some sign of
another company of Whigs from a nearby settlement that
is supposed to join them.

Rawdon hears of the rendezvous at the church. He has
been apprised by a Tory. He has heard also of a second
company of reinforcements, so he dresses a group of his
men in the garb of the community and sends them ahead
of his company. The Waxhaw defenders see a company
of armed men approaching, but they conclude that these
are their friends and they lay aside their guns. It is too
late to discover their error. The Red-coats are upon
them and there is slaughter in the old churchyard. Those
lucky enough to escape the flashing carbines flee in all
directions and are hotly pursued by the Dragoons.

Andrew spurs his horse and is gone into the thicket.
He rides for dear life, every minute turning his head
to see how closely the dragoon pursues him. He comes
to a wide slough of water and mire and plunges his horse
into it, flounders across and reaches dry land. In the
course of the day he is re-united with his brother and

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

that night they lie down in the forest to sleep, their
muskets beside them, like two veterans — these boys. In
the morning they are awake early, still weary, their bones
aching, and very hungry. The nearest house is that of
Lieutenant Crawford, Andrew's cousin, and they make
toward it at double quick time. A Tory informer discovers
their hiding place and apprises the Dragoons, who come
galloping toward the house, surround it and capture
Andrew and Robert.

The British troopers proceed to stage a scene which
would leave its impress upon the mind of Andrew Jack-
son for the remainder of his life. Perhaps much of his
tempestuous disposition, his frequent vengeful spirit, his
deep and abiding hatred of Great Britain, and his mani-
festations of bitterness and relentlessness that character-
ized his own generalship in several warfares that he was
destined to command later on — perhaps much of all this
was traceable to the needless brutality of the King's
soldiers when they raided and ransacked the home of a
woman, whose husband had been wounded, in order to
arrest two young boys of the Revolution.

The Red-coats tore the family clothing to shreds ; they
broke the crockery, upset beds, dashed the furniture to
pieces, including a baby's crib. Adding insult to injury,
a British officer bawls at Andrew to clean his boots. Andy
Jackson stiffens his back and refuses point blank.

*'Sir, I am a prisoner of war, and claim to be treated as
such," he says.

The officer raises his sword and is about to bring it

ANDREW JACKSON

down upon Andrew's head when the boy parries the blow
with his left hand and receives a deep gash that he will
carry to his grave. The officer next turns to Robert and
orders him to clean his boots, and Robert also refuses.
Again the sword is raised and this time it falls full force
upon Robert's head. Britain will make more blunders than
this in the years to come, but not always will they be made
in the presence of a boy who one day will avenge Eng-
land's cruelty with interest.

The Britons decide that while they are in the neighbor-
hood they will hunt down another troublesome Whig,
named Thompson. They discover that Andy knows where
Thompson lives, so they command him to mount his horse
and direct them to Thompson's home, threatening him
with death if he fails to guide them aright. Andy leads
the party in the right direction, but suddenly he remem-
bers there is another road by which the house can be
reached. Should the occupants of the Thompson house
be looking toward that road they could see if anyone
were approaching half a mile away. He knew if Thomp-
son were at home, someone would be on the lookout as
a sentinel, and also Thompson's horse would be standing
nearby, ready for flight.

As the party approaches, Andy sees Thompson's horse
tied to a porch pillar, so he knows the hunted Whig is
within. The Dragoons are gaining speed and are about
to rush upon their man when suddenly Thompson springs
from the house, mounts his horse and fords a swollen
stream, shouting defiance at his pursuers as he touches
land on the other side and gallops away into the woods.
So Httle Andy Jackson, by using his wits, is actually the

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

liberator of the Carolina patriot instead of the instru-
ment for his capture.

The time has arrived for the British troops to dispose
of their troublesome captives, and what better w^ay than
to throw them all into prison? Andrew and Robert and
Lieutenant Thomas Crawford, each of them wounded,
are placed among twenty others captured in the Waxhaw
battle, and all are made to march forty miles to Camden,
South Carolina, where the King's troops have long had
a great depot. None is permitted a morsel of food nor
a drop of water during the entire journey. The wounded
ones who stumble are often struck by officers. We may be
sure Andrew Jackson is taking mental note of this ex-
cursion into misery. He will have occasion later on to
refer to it. How could those British troopers, serving a
stupid King three thousand miles away, know what is
being etched in the mind of a boy who soon will be thrown
into prison?

The Waxhaw captives find two hundred and fifty pris-
oners concentrated in an enclosure drawn around the
jail. There are no beds, no medical attendants to care for
the wounded, not even medicine. The men are gaunt, yel-
low, already the victims of scurvy, and disease is rampant
in the colony of captives. Their only food is a scant supply
of miserable bread. Part of the clothing of each has been
taken away, the purpose of this probably being to further
humiliate each victim in the eyes of the rest.

Andrew and Robert and Crawford, their cousin, are
separated once their kinship is known. Robbed of his
jacket and his shoes, knowing nothing of the fate that
has befallen his brother, who suffers a terrible gash upon

ANDREW JACKSON

his head that already has become infected, Andy sits alone
most of the time, unspeakable hatred for his captors, their
country and its cause welling up within him with the pass-
ing of each moment. He would, if he could, tear the Red-
coats limb from limb.

Small-pox has broken out among the prisoners. This
dread disease, unchecked by medical supervision of any
kind, spreads rapidly. Andy has thus far managed to es-
cape the contagion, but he does not know the fate of his
brother.

There is a report in the prison camp that General
Greene is leading a little army to Hobkirk's Hill. He is
coming to deliver the American prisoners from their
misery. Even the sick and the dying take heart. For six
days Greene's army is bivouacked upon the Hill. Andy
sees the whole layout from a knot-hole. Lord Rawdon has
decided that despite the inferiority of his numbers he will
attack the American forces before they have time to
bring up artillery. Word flies into the prison that next
morning Rawdon will attack! The result of this battle
will decide the fate of the prisoners as well as that of
either of the contending forces.

During the night Andy hacks a larger hole in the fence
that he may have a better view of the battle which will
take place less than a mile away, upon the eminence of
Hobkirk's Hill. Dawn finds Andy at his post behind the
high board fence. His eye sweeps the countryside and he
sees the ragged American troops — there are only twelve
hundred of them — scattered over the field. Some appear

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

to be washing their clothes ; others are jumping about as
though they are at play. This is a mighty funny way,
thinks Andrew Jackson, aged fourteen years, for men to
behave on the eve of battle! Rawdon leads his nine hun-
dred men out to attack. This is the least that Greene had
expected, for he supposed the British now were trembling
for their safety.

Rawdon closes in upon the Americans, who are taken
by complete surprise. Andy sees them rush for their arms.
He reports the battle to the files of ragged prisoners press-
ing around him. American horses are dashing riderless
over the field. The Americans are in retreat! They are
rushing madly over the top of the hill, the Red-coats,
their tunics marking them less than a mile away in the
April sun, are in hot pursuit. Tiers of smoke rise above
the field and float serenely away. General Greene's army
is defeated, and Andy Jackson knows why. That is his
second lesson in the art of war. He will profit by it, too,
some day.

Andy begins to develop the first symptoms of small-
pox. He is sick and burns with fever. Robert's condition
is even more pitiable. The deep wound in his head has
never been dressed, and he, too, is desperately ill from
the first signs that announce the dread disease.

Betty Jackson has not rested for one minute from her
efforts to effect the release of her boys at Camden. Finally
she succeeds in arranging for an exchange of prisoners.
She gasps with horror as she gazes upon the wasted
bodies of her boys. Robert is the worse off. He cannot

ANDREW JACKSON

stand, nor can he sit in the saddle without support. Betty
Jackson has two horses. She hfts Robert upon one horse
and mounts the other herself. The horses are reined closely
and the mother holds Robert in his seat, while Andy,
himself burning with fever, emaciated, worn, weary and
ragged, trudges behind. They have forty miles to cover
before they are back again in their home at Waxhaw.

Suddenly a storm comes up when they are within two
miles of the journey's end, and all are drenched. Their
small-pox now reaches the stage of development. The
boys arrive home at last and at once go to bed. How good
it feels to stretch out once more between clean sheets.
Betty Jackson bends over first one bed and then the
other.

In two days she ceases to bend over Robert. He is dead !
And Andrew has gone stark mad! The disease raging
in his body and about to break out in horrible sores, plus
his suffering in the Camden stockade, and his bitter men-
tal reaction to it, have thrown his mind into chaos. His
condition is perilous, as Betty well knows. She buries
one of her boys in the Waxhaw churchyard beside the
body of his father, and turns her attention to saving the
life of one surviving son. The War for Independence is
costly for Betty Jackson.

Andrew recovers very slowly. For many months he
will be an invalid. Forever during his lifetime he will
suffer unconsciously from the horror of those eternities
of days and nights in that loathsome prison. He will be
the author of terrible cruelties, and vengeful punish-
ments himself in after years, but he will be unaware of

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

much of this, like a tiger oblivious of its fangs and claws,
deaf to its own roar, and the power of its blow.

It is now summer in the year 1781. The summer smiles
upon the Carolina fields and woods, and flowers, whose
roots are warm and firm with the rich blood of men to
nourish them, shoot out in a spray of multi-colored
beauty. Up from the prison ships at Charleston comes a
cry of anguish. Many of the prisoners are the kindred of
Betty Jackson and her relatives. Others are neighbors'
sons, brothers and fathers. Andrew seems to be on the
road to recovery now, and Betty can leave him and join a
band of Waxhaw women bound on an errand of mercy,
to effect, if possible, the release of these Americans.

The women pack their saddle bags with whatever
they think will mitigate the suffering of the captives.
They start out upon the journey — it is one hundred and
sixty miles — and at night they must find shelter some-
how, for the trip cannot be covered in a day.

Andy, at home in the Waxhaw Settlement, waits anx-
iously for news from his mother. He wonders if she has
arrived at Charleston safely, and he wonders especially
if she has effected the release of the prisoners. In a little
while — a matter of a few weeks — a man on horseback
gallops up to the house where Andy is staying. He hands
Andy a bundle which the boy tears open. It is his mother's
clothing, the extra garments she had taken along.

7
Betty Jackson is dead, a victim of the ship fever which
she had caught shortly after she began her ministrations

ANDREW JACKSON

to the sick and wounded men aboard the British prison
ship. They bury her body in an open field nearby, and
none will ever know in the years to come, not even her
son, where she is buried. Many years later, when he has
become President of the United States, he will set afoot
a special inquiry in South Carolina in an effort to locate
the spot where his mother is buried, that he might re-
move her bones to the old Waxhaw Cemetery, and there
place above the graves of his parents a suitable marker.
But he shall never have this privilege.

Andy Jackson's feelings at this moment are divided
between his grief over the death of his mother and two
brothers and his own pitiable condition, which he is com-
petent to realize is desperate enough. He is borne down
by the fact that he is an orphan, and made so by the
Revolution. The conditions are desperate in the extreme
now, but in later years these same circumstances will
operate in his favor, for they will be used with telling
effect in three Presidential campaigns, and in two of them
he shall be triumphant.

Andy Jackson loved his mother deeply. He had had oc-
casion to study her virtues and to become acquainted with
her sublime courage, both in home-making in the wilder-
ness and while within range of British guns. Often in
the days of his future greatness, he would clinch a point
by saying, ''That I learned from my good old mother.'*

On another occasion, he would say this :

''One of the last injunctions given me by her, was never
to institute a suit for assault and battery, or for defama-
tion; never to wound the feelings of others, nor suffer
my own to be outraged; these were her words of ad-

ANDY JACKSON GOES TO WAR

monition to me. I remember them well, and have never
failed to respect them. My settled course through life
has been to bear them in mind, and never to insult or
wantonly to assail the feelings of anyone. Yet, many
conceive me to be a most ferocious animal, insensible to
moral duty, and regardless of the laws both of God and
man."

Well, Andrew Jackson in the tides ahead would give
many individuals, and nations, too, for that matter,
plenty of cause to think of him as '*a most ferocious
animal."

When Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October
19, 1 78 1, Andy had not passed his fifteenth birthday.
One or two southern towns will remain awhile in the
enemy's hands, but the War for Independence in effect
is over, North and South.

The Cause has been won. Andy Jackson faces the world
alone.

Chapter IV
LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING

r o r K s

THERE are whisperings among the numerous rela-
tives of Betty Jackson in the Waxhaws. Each of
them hopes that Andrew, the orphan, will not knock at
their gate to seek permanent shelter. None seems to want
the responsibility for training this sandy-haired lad, who
is shooting up so rapidly that even now he is as tall as
his mother was.

Well, the aunts and uncles of Andrew do not have to
worry, for he will not bother them ; but just the same, they
will shake their heads and they will predict many a time
in the years to come that Andrew is headed for no good
end. Perhaps they are right, for he is headed toward the
Presidency.

Some historians a century later will say that Andrew
returned to his studies after the war and 'Revised the
languages," but down in the Waxhaws everyone knows
that he indulges in all modes of sportive feats — gambling,
drinking a little, horse racing and cock fighting. Precious
little studying Andrew does these days. Being alone in
the world makes him feel a trifle like a martyr, and he
trades somewhat on this by affecting a little swagger in

LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING COCKS

his stride, a slight abruptness or irritabiHty in his speech,
Hke one having a chip on his shoulder. He was behaving
thus while living for a short time in the house of Major
Thomas Crawford, where Captain Galbraith, former
commissary in the Revolutionary War, also lived. An-
drew's swagger was too much for the Captain, and one
day he undertakes to chastise Andrew. A torrent of hot
words in self-defence streams from Andrew, and the
Captain raises his arm to strike.

Andrew warns the officer that before striking he had
better prepare for eternity; the astonished Captain, star-
ing into the blazing eyes of the aroused young panther
before him, thinks better of his cause, and drops his
arm. Andrew gathers his few articles of clothing and
departs from the house, triumphant. He has conquered
his first real opponent by standing up to him with sheer
courage — and a former Captain in the Revolutionary
Army at that.

For six months he works in a saddler's shop and seems
to be in a fair way of learning a trade, but the presence
of many young blades in the Waxhaws — sons of wealthy
and socially prominent persons of Charleston, who are
awaiting the evacuation of their city — diverts Andrew's
attention and he participates in the sportive feats. He has
made up his mind that if he cannot compete with youths
on the basis of wealth and social position, he can at least
do so by going further than they in matters requiring
grit and daring. He knew well enough that whatever he
was to win would come to him only by the force of his
own willing. So that in December, 1782, Charleston hav-
ing been evacuated, causing his companions to accompany

ANDREW JACKSON

their families back home, Andrew, finding life very dull
and lonely in the saddler's shop, decides to follow them
to the city. He mounts his horse, and is gone.

Every boy and man in this region has a horse. He
may have nothing else — neither home nor presentable
clothing, nor money in the pocket — but a steed he must
possess. Without it, he might just as well be legless, for
it is impossible to cover these often trackless distances
without a horse. Although Andrew's many relatives have
come to regard him as the family ''black sheep," they have
at least provided him with the necessary means of re-
lieving them of his further presence in the community, if
he so wills. They give him a horse.

One evening in Charleston, Andrew strolls into a
tavern, looking for his cronies. He sees a game of dice
in progress and glides toward the table. He is challenged
to a game. He stands to win two hundred dollars or lose
the fine horse tethered to the rack outside. Andrew rolls
the dice and wins, and for the first time in his life he
has more money than his father had ever possessed in
cash at one time. Wise Andrew settles his debts in Charles-
ton and departs in the morning for the scenes of his
childhood.

Many years later someone will recall this incident to
the President, and he will say: "My calculation was that,
if a loser in the game, I would give the landlord my
saddle and bridle, as far as they would go toward the
payment of his bill, ask a credit for the balance, and walk
away from the city. But being successful, I had new

LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING COCKS

spirits infused into me, left the table, and from that mo-
ment to the present I have never thrown dice for a wager."

For two years Andrew teaches school — a field school
— in the Waxhaws; but virtually anybody can be a tutor
in this settlement if he has the hardihood to build his
own school and then canvass the community for pupils.
None will ever know how little he knows, and the pupils,
knowing nothing, may learn a little of something.

It is April, 1783, and peace with England is formally
proclaimed. The peace comes as a boon to the legal pro-
fession, as the Tory lawyers are to be excluded, and many
new causes at bar are to be created for the Whig lawyers,
who foresee a lucrative practice for many future years.
Also, public careers will inevitably follow the curve of
bar and bench. Foresighted young men of the victorious
party see their chance and seize upon it. Old line Whig
lawyers are to be swamped with students, and among
these appears Andrew Jackson.

In the Winter of 1784, Andrew draws up his mount
at the gate of Colonel Waightsill Avery, one of the most
noted attorneys in the Carolinas at this time, and the
owner of one of the best law libraries in this part of the
country. Andrew has come one hundred and thirty-five
miles from the Waxhaws to Morganton, North Carolina,
where Colonel Avery lives in a log cabin, to seek a master
in the law. Colonel Avery finds it inconvenient to take
the young man into his home as a boarder, and into his
office as a student; so Andrew adjusts his saddle bags,
mounts his horse and gallops back to Salisbury. He enters
the office of Spruce McCay, a lawyer of local eminence,
and finds two other students — one Crawford and Mc-

ANDREW JACKSON

Nairy — already installed in the business of copying let-
ters and briefs, running errands and reading law. Andrew
is permitted to join them, and thus is he ensconced as a
student at law in Salisbury where he is to acquire local
fame as a rowdy and a rake that will not down even
after he has reached the White House. In fact, some of
his actions at Washington will tend to confirm the tales
now being whispered about him in Salisbury.

Reading the accounts of these escapades one might be
led to suppose that the student followed a dissolute path
and neglected his studies for horse racing, cock fighting,
parties of a dubious character and too frequent drinking
bouts. It appears that nearly all these episodes have been
exaggerated in the interest of making them serve as a
colorful, roystering background of a backwoods scape-
grace, so that the portrait of the Indian head-hunter, the
General at New Orleans, and the spitfire President might
be the better embellished and embroidered with these
student affairs. It was all a new and wild country in which
Andrew grew up, but the boys that watched and had a
part in the business of pushing civilization westward
through the wilderness were not less nor more fun-
making and mischievous than are the youngsters to-
day.

Salisbury, the capital of Rowan County, was an old
American town when the Revolution began. When Jack-
son lived there and studied law there were one or two
taverns, notably Rowan's House, where Jackson boarded
with his fellow students — Crawford and McNairy, — a
couple of churches, perhaps twenty village houses, half
a dozen mansions, and another score of shanties occupied

LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING COCKS

by Negroes who worked in the fields, and white farm
hands. PubHc wells were in the middle of the streets,
shaded by sheds that also exhibited wheels and buckets
necessary to draw water. Trees formed an archway for
these red dirt streets, over which heavy covered wagons,
coming to and from the markets, rumbled along.

Lawyer McCay's office, where Andrew is at work, is
a small box-like affair. It appears to be a cross between
a hen-house and a Negro cabin, and the floor is littered
with documents, books and pamphlets. Behind this office
stands the McCay mansion, and when the three students
hear the porch door slam shut, followed by the thumping
of a cane to the accompaniment of heavy steps on the
dirt path, they know Old Man McCay is coming, and
they bury their noses in the books. Down the street is
the Rowan House, a rambling affair composed of many
buildings, with huge fireplaces, high mantels, low ceilings
that reveal great hand-hewn timbers.

Andrew will leave traces of himself in this old tavern
that will survive for many a day after he has pushed
over the mountains, into the heart of the Indian country,
and carved for himself a place in history. But just now
the people are saying, ''Andrew Jackson is the most roar-
ing, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing
mischievous fellow that ever lived in Salisbury." Another
adds, *'he does not trouble the law books much." Still
another says, ''he is more in the stables than in the of-
fice"; and, finally, forty years later, in 1824, when he is
makmg his first race for the Presidency, a woman back

ANDREW JACKSON

in Salisbury will remember the tall, slender, roystering
fellow, and she will say: ''What! Jackson up for Presi-
dent? Andrew Jackson? Why, when he was here he was
such a rake that my husband would not bring him into
the house. He might have taken him out to the stable to
weigh horses for a race, and he might have taken a glass
of whisky with him. Well, if Andrew Jackson can be
President, anybody can !"

There will be plenty of reason for this exclamation.
Andrew's landlord at the tavern might be able to add a
few anecdotes merely by referring to his account book,
for the record shows that Andrew has been living at the
tavern on 'Velvet." He has won handsomely from his
landlord at card-playing and betting on the races.

But this is not all. Respectable ladies of Salisbury will
no longer speak to Andrew, for they blush, or at least
so pretend, in recalling how he outraged Respectability,
Decorum and Decency, by bringing to a Christmas ball
his mistress, when he himself was invited only because
he happened to be a law student and the chum of one
or two young men whose social position entitled them
to an invitation.

In truth, the very Respectability and Pretentiousness
of the Christmas ball amuses Andrew, and he decides to
play a practical joke on the ladies. As he has gotten him-
self on the committee of managers for the ball, he sends
an invitation to two of the most dissolute women in
Rowan County — Molly and Rachel Wood, mother and
daughter.

The bedizened ladies of sportive nocturnes appear in
due course, and Andrew, drawing himself into a secluded

LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING COCKS

corner, gleefully watches the other ladies of proper posi-
tion withdraw to one side, seeming to shield their em-
barrassment behind gasps and giggles, and being greatly
relieved when someone undertakes the mission of of-
ficial bouncer and sternly escorts Molly and Rachel to
the door, leaving them to sulk amid the quiet orders of
the night.

Despite all this tomfoolery, and much more besides,
the fact remains that Andrew is applying himself to his
books, no matter what Salisbury may say or think. Of
course he will never become in any proper sense a lawyer ;
he will never have the profound legal knowledge of Henry
Clay or Daniel Webster, but he will give those gifted
gentlemen enough to worry about in the days ahead that
may cause them to ardently wish he knew much less
than the ever so little that he already knows about the
law and its reaches. For the truth of the matter is this :
Andrew is diligently picking up all the knowledge of
the law that is available to him, and if there were more
he would possess himself of it. He shall know all there
is to be known about anything — at least all that he thinks
is worth knowing; dismissing all the rest as ''immaterial
and irrelevant."

He will acknowledge but two colors in life, and they
shall be white and black. All who think as he thinks, and
who uphold and indorse his every act, he will count as
white; and all who oppose him in thought or action,
may the Lord have mercy upon them, for Andrew Jack-
son shall call them black.

Andrew completes his preparation for admission to
the bar in the office of Colonel John Stokes, a soldier in

ANDREW JACKSON

the Revolution, from whom Stokes County, North Caro-
lina, takes its name.

In the Spring of 1787, Andrew is twenty years old,
and he has won his license to practice in the courts of
North Carolina. This he has accomplished in two years.
He stands six feet one inch in his stockings, and is
unusually slender for his great height. Also, he is re-
markably erect and carries himself with an easy grace.
He was to the saddle born, and the young men of his
circle and sphere count him as their chief and model.
Andrew already has become conscious of his power
over groups of people.

There is about him an irresistible quality of forth-
rightness, physical courage of the first order, and a sense
of justice that is almost ferocious where injustice is done.
He is the walking delegate of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the spirit incarnate of the Fourth of July.

On the side of philosophy, and the quiet, dreamy un-
dertones of life that a man comes to as the result of
meditation and observance of life-forces — attempting to
comprehend the meaning of at least a little of this — on
this side Andrew Jackson is blank.

He only knows action, and at twenty, with a lawyer's
license in his pocket and a pistol in his room at Rowan's
House, he is prepared for it. He has what some people
call a presence, and without thinking he will take the lead
as a matter of course. Despite the reputation that he
has among men — hard-boiled, so to speak — he is pos-
itively winning with the ladies, for in their presence

LAW BOOKS AND FIGHTING COCKS

he is uniformly chivalrous, courteous and civil, v^ith no
trace of affectation or obnoxious patronage because of
sex. Women, perhaps more than men, discern in his
deep blue eyes, w^hich are capable of blazing with great
expression, the reflection of supreme mastery. And yet,
it v^ould be men, not w^omen, who would be governed
almost exclusively by that certified power. He will lash
them with a piercing glance and a boiling torrent of
invective, but they will follow him, in their hatred or
in their love, because men will know and feel this man
as their leader. Women recognize in him this invincible
quality, and, although they love him for it, they are
content not to reckon with it in any tangible way for
the simple reason that they themselves singly divine their
incompetence to match it, much less master it.

Andrew at maturity has lived an unsullied life. It has
been easy for him so to do. He has had no urgent tempta-
tions. The Carolina ladies have, one and all, given him
a wide berth. But they have not neglected him in their
thoughts. Only wisdom has buttressed their discretion.

For a year Andrew is virtually lost to view, for he
has departed from Salisbury after passing two of the
happiest years of his life among its taverns, its quaint
law offices, and its race track. One fine day he mounts his
horse and is gone. For a while he lives in Martinsville,
North Carolina, waiting for clients, acting as constable
and helping in the general store of his two friends, Hen-
derson and Searcy. On November 12, 1787, he was at
court in the neighboring county of Surry, as the official
record shows.

There is still another record to prove his activities of

ANDREW JACKSON

this period. The courthouse of Surry was at a Httle vil-
lage called Richmond and Jackson's frequent visits to
the tavern, often as a boarder, are attested by the pro-
prietor's register, which was extant long after Andrew
had passed on. It appears that Jackson owed what was
held to be a considerable sum in that period. This ac-
count, whatever the figure, was perennially brought for-
ward on the ledger, but tradition says it was never actually
settled. Twenty-seven years after the debt was supposed
to have been contracted, news of a certain great military
achievement reached the North Carolina village. On that
day, during a lull in the serving of drinks, a quiet little
man unlocks his strongbox and brings forth a ledger.
He turns the yellowing pages until he finds the name of
"A. Jackson, Esqr." He takes his quill pen and, with a
flourish writes over the face of the entry: ''Settled in
full, January 8, 1815, by the Battle of New Orleans."
The drinks are on the house.

Andrew is to receive several dunning letters from at
least one resident of Richmond, the county seat, as late
as 1795, seven years after he had quit that part of the
country. William Cupples will write to him in regard
to a note given by Jackson to settle the balance of a
gambling debt at Richmond.

Meanwhile, Andrew turns the nose of his horse west-
ward toward the wilderness.

Chapter V

SOLICITOR AND
TENNESSEE BAD MAN

WHEN Andrew Jackson was a boy, that oblong
block on the map, extending from the Alleghanies
to the Mississippi, was known as Washington County,
North Carolina. Later it was divided into two counties and
then three. After the Revolution, North Carolina, some-
what troubled by the Indian wars on her western wing, of-
fered to cede those counties in the wilderness, which now
compose the State of Tennessee, to the federal govern-
ment, as Carolina's share of the expenses of the Revolu-
tion, provided Congress accept the grant West of the Alle-
ghanies within two years. There were several thousands
of white settlers in those counties and they were nettled
at the proposal, fearing that in the interim of two years
they would have no government, and consequently no
protection, but would be at the mercy of the unmerciful
Indians.

They straightway declared their independence from
North Carolina and set up a state government of their
own, naming it Franklin, and elected John Sevier, Gover-
nor. North Carolina body resented the recalcitrancy of
her western progeny, and, after some protracted turbu-

ANDREW JACKSON

lence, the State of Franklin melted away. It was at this
time — 1788 — that John McNairy, a friend of Jackson's,
was appointed Judge of the Superior Court for the west-
ern district. The office of solicitor, or public prosecutor,
was offered to Jackson. Andrew believes that a citizen
should never seek and never decline a public office. The
district covered a perilous wilderness of five hundred
miles from the outposts of civiHzation. The two princi-
pal courts of the district were held at Jonesboro and Nash-
ville, one hundred and eighty-three miles apart, and united
only by a trail which ran through a gap in the Cumber-
land Mountains and then plunged into forests infested
with hostile Indians, more dangerous than in any portion
of the western country, because they had often come to
grips with the whites who were bent upon pushing them
from their natural habitat.

Litigants in those days were far more accustomed to
the settlement of their disputes with fists, clubs and pistols
than in the persuasive precincts of the court. Changes
of venue were frequent. It was only a question of trans-
ferring the case at bar from the judicial tribunal to the
public square outside, the litigants using pistols or fists
to achieve the final verdict. A public prosecutor in this
region was viewed as an official meddler who, if not
dispatched sooner or later by Indians hiding in ambush,
might be disposed of summarily with a bullet by plain-
tiff or defendant.

Jackson knew the country, its trails, and its habits. He
was not eager for the job that had been wished upon
him, but he accepted it, and prosecuted his task with the
full vigor of his amazing manhood.

SOLICITOR AND BAD MAN

So the judicial party — Judge McNairy, Solicitor Jack-
son, and a few lawyers eager to seek their fortune in
the vaunted country of the west — rendezvous at Morgan-
ton. They are mounted and equipped for the long, haz-
ardous trek over the mountains to Jonesboro, in eastern
Tennessee, the first halting place of pioneers bound to
the lands on the Cumberland River. When Jackson first
saw Jonesboro it had grown to be a place of about sixty
log houses and was even boasting about its new court-
house.

The original plans for this frontier seat of justice were
as follows : ''The court recommend that there be a court
house built in the following manner, namely : twenty-four
feet square, diamond corners, and hewn down after it
is built up; nine feet high between the two floors; body
of the house four feet above the upper fioor ; floors neatly
laid with plank; shingles of roof to be hung with pegs;
a justice's bench; a lawyers' and clerk's bar; also a sheriff's
box to sit in."

Jackson and his party remain several weeks at Jones-
boro, awaiting the assembling of emigrants who will
proceed with them to the "bad lands" in the hope of ef-
fecting a settlement and rearing homesteads. What is
more important, they await the arrival of a substantial
guard from Nashville who will escort them through the
dangerous country.

The party rides and proceeds afoot by turn, the
women and children astride the horses, and the men plow-
ing through mud and loam, their hands quick to the trig-

ANDREW JACKSON

ger at the first rustling of leaves in the dense forests
that yield only a reluctant path. The party has marched
thirty-six hours and they are very tired. They come to
a clearing in the early evening, and soon the tents are
pitched, and the women and children tumble into them to
sleep. The men wrap themselves in blankets and lie down
upon the ground, their feet toward the fire in the circle.

Silence falls upon the camp. All sleep save the sen-
tinels, who will keep guard half the night, and one other,
Andrew Jackson. He sits on the ground with his back
against a tree, smoking his pipe. He hears strange hoot-
ing sounds around the camp, and he thinks they are owls.
But the hoots become sharper, and Jackson grasps his rifle
and rouses the men. He orders the camp quietly broken
up and the march resumed at once. There are Indians
round about and they mean to attack before dawn, he
says. The party, including the judge, obeys without a
murmur.

A band of hunters, who reached the camping ground an
hour after it had been abandoned at Jackson's command,
were annihilated before the sun rose on the next day.

There is great joy in Nashville among the settlers when
the emigrants, among whom is Andrew Jackson, arrive.
The newcomers are taken into the log cabins, and fed and
given places to sleep. Soon they will find plenty of work
to do while their neighbors help them build their own
cabins in the wilderness.

Almost simultaneously news reaches Nashville that a
majority of the states have accepted the new Constitution,
and all is well with the government at Philadelphia. The
legislatures are about to choose Presidential electors, and

SOLICITOR AND BAD MAN

it is a foregone conclusion that General Washington will
be elected the first President of the Republic. Stirring
news! Jackson brushes the bristling locks of sandy hair
out of his eyes and contemplates his own job as public
prosecutor.

Eight years before Jackson arrived at Nashville, a
group of settlers had come that way, headed by Colonel
John Donelson, a Virginia surveyor. He conceived the
amazing idea of encompassing the trip by water, that
he might avoid the peril of the route through the wilder-
ness, which at that time was unbroken. The flotilla of flat
boats is mastered by the ''flagship" Adventure, and in
mid-winter the voyage is begun : down the river Holston
to the Tennessee, down the Tennessee to the Ohio, up
the Ohio to the Cumberland, up the Cumberland to Nash-
ville — and home. The distance was more than two thou-
sand miles, and no man, white or red, had ever before
attempted the voyage, which required four months.

Aboard the Adventure was the daughter of Colonel
Donelson, Rachel, black-eyed, black-haired, gay, bold and
handsome. She w^as the first woman that ever was upon
those treacherous waters, and frequently she took the
helm while her father took a shot at the Indians. By
Spring other craft joined the procession, down the rivers
full of shoals, rapids and whirlpools. Twice the party
was attacked by Indians; often men would pull their
boats to the shore to hunt game in the wilderness and
would never return; one man was frozen to death dur-
ing the long voyage; two children were born; small-pox

ANDREW JACKSON

broke out on one boat containing twenty-eight persons,
and it was agreed this boat should sail a certain distance
behind the rest, but within hearing of the flagship's horn.

Colonel Donelson lands at Nashville, and the emigres
establish a settlement. He is a thrifty person, is the
Colonel, and soon is the possessor of much land, cattle,
Negroes, and a substantial home. When Rachel goes out
to pick wild blackberries she is accompanied by guards;
indeed, white men do not even stop at a well for drink
unless there is a sentinel posted. Many white men have
yielded their lives in this region — sacrifices to the desire
for civilization which, in one hundred and fifty years
will have established air mail routes beneath the infinite
blue ceiling of this last outpost. One day Colonel Donel-
son is away in the woods surveying. He does not re-
turn. They find his body near a creek, pierced with bul-
lets. This hardy pioneer had lived to see his daughter,
Rachel, grow to young womanhood, a vivacious and dar-
ing back-woods peasant girl.

It is to the home of Widow Donelson that Jackson
goes to board when he reaches Nashville. In Kentucky,
Rachel had met Lewis Robards, and they were married.
Robards owned some land in Kentucky, in a region still
thickly infested with hostile Indians, and he and Rachel
were now living with Rachel's mother until the Red men
should have been either subdued or pacified, rendering
it safe for the Robards to live in their own cabin.

The young Solicitor, the only licensed lawyer in
Western Tennessee, proceeds earnestly about his busi-
ness. A large part of this will involve debtor cases. Be-
fore he is settled a month in Nashville he has issued

SOLICITOR AND BAD MAN

seventy writs to delinquent debtors, and, if they are not
to be found in the vicinity, he mounts his horse and rides
through the wilderness to serve his summonses and hale
them into court. Merchants come to him with their cases
by the score and find in him a prosecutor who means to
prosecute. Jackson becomes extremely unpopular with
the debtor class, for they see in him a ''bad man" who
will not hesitate to use physical force or the threat of
his pistol in the interest of frontier justice.

Meanwhile, he is gaining an immense reputation among
the substantial element of the community and is laying
the foundation for his fortune and his fame. Let us look
at the record of the Quarter Sessions court of Davidson
County, of which Nashville is the capital.

At the April term, 1790, there are one hundred and
ninety-two cases on the dockets, and Jackson is employed
as counsel in forty-two of them. At the January term,
1793, there are thirteen suits entered, mostly for debt,
and in every one of them Jackson is employed. At the
April term of the same year, he is counsel in seventy-
two out of one hundred and fifty-five cases. At the July
term he is employed in sixty cases out of one hundred
and thirty-five; and in October, in sixty-one cases out of
one hundred and thirty-two.

During the four terms of 1794, there are three hun-
dred and ninety-seven cases docketed, and in two hundred
and twenty-eight of them Jackson appears either as prose-
cutor or counsel for the defense. During these and later
years, he practices not only at Nashville, but also at
Jonesboro, which necessitates many days and nights to
penetrate the wilderness. He is often required to sleep

ANDREW JACKSON

out of doors, in the snow and the rain, his rifle ready
at his side to repel any sudden attack from his enemies,
white or red.

That these dangers are real and not imaginary may be
gleaned from the facts. From the year 1780 to 1794, the
Indians killed one person in about every ten days within
five miles of Nashville. In 1787, the year before Jackson's
arrival, thirty-three white men were slain by the Red-
skins. The histories of the period, especially Tennessee
history, are bloody with the accounts of these killings
during the period of Jackson's presence in that region —
many of them provoked by white men, most of them
caused by the fear of the Indians for their inevitable
conquerors.

Disputed land claims form the majority of the cases
at bar which Jackson is called upon either to prosecute
or defend. Next in importance are assault and battery
cases, which are numerous. These include the crime of
mayhem — the biting of the ears and nose of one's op-
ponent. The settlement of these affairs requires no pro-
found knowledge of the science of law, a knowledge that
Jackson does not possess. But what they do require is
the quality of infinite courage, which Jackson has in
abundance.

The country at this time is virtually destitute of
money, due to the expenses of the recent War for Inde-
pendence, and in the outposts of civilization, such as
Tennessee, the commodities mostly in demand are used
as specie. These are land, corn, coon skins, whisky, axes,

SOLICITOR AND BAD MAN

firearms and cowbells. Buffalo hides supply the demand
for foreign exchange. In western Tennessee corn is sell-
ing for more than one hundred dollars a bushel ; whisky
is everywhere essential for internal warmth and the ad-
justment of the nervous system, which is frequently
"jumpy," due to the perils and hardships that men must
encounter and conquer here. Cows cannot be located in
the dense cane-brakes and morasses unless they are belled,
hence cowbells are at a premium. The price paid for a
cowbell in this wilderness will, in about a hundred and
fifty years, be the equivalent of the amount handed over
in New York by the purchaser of a Rolls-Royce auto-
mobile. A square mile of land near Nashville has been
sold for three axes and two cowbells, and another tract
of similar size is exchanged for "a faithful rifle and a
clear-tuned cowbell."

It is customary for a client to pay his lawyer's fee with
land, and Jackson is fast acquiring a substantial acreage
in Nashville and vicinity. He is actually ''land poor" al-
ready, for he cannot sell this land, as nearly everyone
has much more of this ''commodity" than their needs
require. But just the same, he is laying the foundation
of his fortune by the writing of a veritable shower of
briefs, and issuing reams of writs and summonses.

Let us scan the court records of this period and see
what kind of cases engage the hawk eye of Solicitor Jack-
son. Here are a few :

"State vs. Bazil Fry. For stealing a pair of leather
leggins. Proof taken : judgement passed that he be repri-
manded, and acquitted on paying costs."

ANDREW JACKSON

'The grand jurors present Joshua Baldwin for alter-
ing his name to Joshua Campbell, and Ephriam Peyton,
for taking away, by force, a mare from Joshua."

*'I, John Irwin, of my free will and accord, do hereby
acknowledge and certify the Raskelly and Scandoullous
Report that I have Raised and Reported Concearned Aliss
Polly McFaddin, is Faulse and Groundless, and that I
have no Right, Reason or cause to Believe the Same.
Given under my hand this 26. March, 1793."

'The court passed a resolution that Caesar be per-
mitted to build a house in one corner or side of the Pub-
lik Lott for the purpose of selling Cakes and Beer, etc.,
so long as he conducts himself in an orderly manner
and has permission from his Master."

''At the July Session of the county court of Davidson
County, 1 79 1, John Rains is fined five shillings, paper
money, for profane swearing."

Two years will pass in this manner. Jackson will be
busy every day, riding to court over trackless wastes,
through deep forests, eluding the vigilance of Indians,
fording streams in which even his horse hesitates to
plunge, running down debtors — gathering the reputation
of a "bad man" because he will brook no interference
with the process of law from the rich or poor. Also, he
finds time to enjoy a few evenings at the home of Widow
Donelson, who esteems him highly, and whose winsome
daughter, Rachel, though the wife of suspicious and sulky
Robards, seeks solitary and secluded moments to greet
him, and now and then to trust him with her precious
confidences.

Chapter VI
POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

SOLICITOR JACKSON'S courtship and marriage to
Rachel Donelson Robards furnished a comic strip
that was read from many angles by his enemies through-
out his history until he was laid at rest by his wife's
side in the shade of the Hermitage. The subject provided
his foes with pamphlets, books and speeches throughout
three Presidential campaigns, and along the groove of
the years several otherwise smart men dropped in their
tracks as the price of their flippancy in taunting him
about his marriage. One of these was killed.

A President of the United States, John Quincy Adams,
whom Jackson will succeed in the tides ahead, will pay
heavily in wounded pride because of Jackson's erroneous
belief that the President had lent his Puritan's ear to
the gossip of the scandal mongers and political perverts.
They, his enemies, shall declare him guilty of adultery.
And, technically, the charge cannot be gainsaid. Historians
for one hundred and fifty years and more will delve into
dusty archives for the records of this strange amalgama-
tion, and, finding a luscious morsel, they will add such
embellishment and embroidery as may be necessary to
bedeck the two backwoods principals in the fripperies
of a frontier tableau.

ANDREW JACKSON

As fast as his horse can carry him, he speeds to Rachel's
side and for a short time all goes well. Meanwhile, Spring
has come, and Andrew Jackson is established in Nash-
ville as Prosecuting Attorney. Jackson meets Overton,
who will later on become a Judge and a most important
personage in the history of Tennessee, which shall even
name a county in his honor. But what is more important
to Jackson, the foundation of a friendship is laid, and
it shall endure throughout the long lives of both men.

It is John Overton who introduces Jackson into the
home of Widow Donelson and the Robards. Jackson and
Overton live in a little cabin which is separated from
the Donelson home by a few steps. They sleep in the same
bed, and as both are young lawyers — one a prosecutor —
and often share the dangers of the frontier together —
they have much to talk about in the flickering light of
tallow candles and in the perilous dark. Both men place
their pistols on the floor within hand's reach before blow-
ing out the candle.

Due to the unfortunate organization of Robards's mind,
it is not long before he conjures up a rival in Jackson.
The slender giant with bristling sandy hair, which is just
beginning to turn grey at the temples, is no more than
conventionally polite in the presence of Rachel, despite
his frequent notice that Robards's attitude toward his
wife is the opposite of civility, especially in the presence
of Jackson. The tall man wonders if it may not be neces-
sary at some future time to give Robards a good lacing
on his own account. With respect to the attitude of Ro-
bards toward Rachel, Jackson naturally feels this is
none of his concern — and yet it does concern him. He

POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

will always have an attitude of deference toward women,
this partly because of his high regard for the memory
of his mother and her suffering. There are other reasons
that account for this view, by far the most of them
predicated upon his ignorance of the psychological mech-
anism of women — an ignorance shared by nearly all men
of his day, which was to blossom into a standardized form
of masculine conduct that would bear the name of Chiv-
alry, but which would omit any recognition of woman
as an equal. A glamorous name was chosen for sexual
worship.

Thirty-six years later, when Jackson is a candidate for
the Presidency, his friends, Judge Overton and Major
William B. Lewis, will recall his conduct now and they
will note that ''he was a man of polite, refined and courtly
manners." Judge Overton will testify: 'The whole af-
fair gave Jackson great uneasiness, and this will not
appear strange to one as well acquainted with his char-
acter as I was. Continually together during our attendance
on wilderness courts, whilst other young men were in-
dulging in familiarities with females of relaxed morals,
no suspicion of this kind of the world's censure ever fell
to Jackson's share." Major Lewis, in 1827, will write:
"The jaundiced eye of that monster called Jealousy saw
a thousand things that never existed."

3
Robards continues to upbraid his wife about what he
misconstrues as her attentions to the Solicitor. Not only
this, but he goes around Nashville talking loosely of Jack-
son's "relations" with his wife. Jackson is not the kind

ANDREW JACKSON

of man who can be talked about loosely, and he has made
too many friends among the merchants and lawyers of
the frontier not to be promptly informed of what Robards
is saying.

One day they meet in the orchard, and, while Robards
becomes violent and abusive in his talk, Jackson fixes
upon him a pair of fiery eyes in which the silly and sulky
husband might well read his own death sentence. Ro-
bards challenges Jackson to a fist fight, but the Prosecutor
is too shrewd to descend to the level of a street brawl
with a town rufiian and vulgarian. Instead, he offers
Robards "satisfaction in a gentlemanly fashion" — the
fashion that all men know and follow in this period —
and gives Robards the choice of his two pistols in the
holsters on his horse tethered to a tree nearby.

Robards grows pale and immediately leaves the scene.
In order to quicken the retreat of his would-be adversary,
Jackson fires a bullet into the air and the Captain runs
for cover, believing he is being pursued, while Jackson
mounts his horse and gallops away to find new lodgings.

After a few months more of cat and dog existence at
Widow Donelson's cabin, Robards for the second time
abandons Rachel, and trots back to Kentucky with one
or two of his cronies. He tells them he will never return
to his wife again, and he never does. Rachel, glad to be
rid of this grouch, seeks other scenery that her tattered
nerves might be healed. She is welcomed into the home of
Colonel Robert Hays, a brother-in-law, who frequently
drops a word in the household about Solicitor Jackson. At
every mention of the Solicitor's name Rachel's heart

POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

flutters. Once or twice she has confided to her sister that
''Mr. Jackson is a brave and fine man."

In the Autumn of 1790 a report is circulated in Nash-
ville that Robards intends to come back and force Rachel
to accompany him to Kentucky. There is much uneasiness
in Hays's home, and of course Jackson learns the reason.
He half regrets that he did not give Robards the leaden
pellet that day in the orchard. It would have taught him
a good lesson here or hereafter, Jackson soliloquizes.
Rachel is distraught. She is determined not ever to live
with her husband again. He may go to the devil. This
time she will not yield. Twice he has voluntarily aban-
doned her, the first time two years before Jackson knew
of their existence.

Andrew is beside himself with anxiety, and he con-
fides to his friend Overton that he is the ''most unhappy
of men." He feels in some way that he, innocently and
unintentionally, has been the cause of the last rupture of
peace between Rachel and her husband.

Rachel has family connections in Natchez, Mississippi,
which is a Spanish province, and she decides that will be
a safe place to go to be rid of Robards. Jackson knows
this country and its hazards. He fears that Rachel will
be massacred by the Indians, who are in a state of war
against the whites in that region. He decides to accom-
pany her on the boat down the river to Natchez. Rachel
also will be accompanied by Colonel Stark, a venerable
and highly esteemed man, and a friend of Mrs. Robards,
senior. In the late Winter of 1791, Rachel, Jackson and
Colonel Stark embark on a flat boat for the perilous sail

ANDREW JACKSON

down the river. Jackson has good reason to take his two
pistols with him. He has committed his law business to
the care of Overton, saying he will return and resume
his practice when Rachel has landed safely in Natchez.
True to his word, the early Spring of 1791 finds him
back in Nashville, attending to his business as Prosecut-
ing Attorney.

Robards had not been idle. His hate for his wife, whom
he had been unable to master, and his intense dislike
for Jackson, who he realized was in every essential his
superior, keep his thoughts at white heat. And being an
habitually unpleasant person, he decides to compromise
the good names of both by linking them in the charge of
adultery.

In the late Winter of 1791, about the same time that
Rachel and Jackson are sailing down the river to Natchez,
Robards is In Virginia, applying to the state legisla-
ture for a divorce. It appears that Captain Robards has
one or two friends who are members of this body and
they contrive successfully to exert their influence upon
the General Assembly, which passes an act entitled : "An
Act Concerning the Marriage of Lewis Robards.'' In
effect, the Virginia legislature decides "that it shall and
may be lawful for Lewis Robards to sue out of the office
of the Supreme Court of the District of Kentucky, a writ
against Rachel Robards. ... A jury shall be summoned,
who shall be sworn well and truly to inquire into the
allegations contained in the declaration, or to try the
issue joined, as the case may be, and shall find a verdict

MRS. RACHEL DOXELSON JACKSON

POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

according to the usual mode; and if the jury, in case of
issue joined, shall find for the plaintiff, or in case of
inquiry into the truth of the allegations contained in the
declaration, shall find in substance, that the defendant
hath deserted the plaintiff, and that she hath lived in
adultery with another man since such desertion, the said
verdict shall be recorded, and. Thereupon, the marriage
between the said Lewis Robards and Rachel shall be
totally dissolved."

With this action accomplished, Robards departs for
Kentucky and proceeds to boast that he has actually ob-
tained a divorce. Overton, himself a lawyer, is again a
boarder at the log cabin of old Mrs. Robards in Ken-
tucky when Lewis swaggers back into their circle. Over-
ton, in common with other people, believes the action of
the Virginia legislature is final.

Overton is prompt to communicate the news to his
friend Jackson in Nashville. Jackson likewise concludes
that Robards has obtained a divorce. He packs his bag,
not neglecting his pistols, and proceeds by boat to Natchez
to be the first to inform lonely Rachel that she is at last
free of the pestiferous Robards — and, by the same token,
is free to accept him as her husband.

Andrew Jackson and Rachel Donelson Robards are
married by a Roman Catholic priest in Natchez, Missis-
sippi, which since 1781 has been a Spanish province. Spain
does not relinquish her hold until 1798. The established
religion, therefore, is Catholic. If there is a Protestant
clergyman in the vicinity Jackson has failed to find him.

In an old log house, on the banks of the Mississippi
River, at Bayou Pierre, Andrew and Rachel pass their

ANDREW JACKSON

honeymoon. Jackson is twenty- four years old, and Rachel
a few years his junior. She now enjoys the first happi-
ness she has known since she was fifteen years old, when
her extreme youth and the promptings of older, if equally
as foolish, heads, combined to intrigue her into the un-
happy union with Robards.

In a little while the couple return to Nashville, and
Jackson resumes the practice of law. A few years pass
in marital bliss on the farthest rim of American civiliza-
tion. The social standing of Jackson grows apace. He
has become what one might call "a leading citizen." Bad
Indians, reckless debtors, and two-gun rowdies slink
from his presence and hide themselves in the canebrakes
until they hear the gallop of his horse become a whisper
in the wind. Merchants and traders join honest citizens
in seeking his counsel and company, for Andrew Jackson
is a sociable fellow if he thinks you think as he thinks, or
if you can guard your thoughts should you think him
wrong.

In October, 1791, a few months following his mar-
riage, he is elected one of the trustees of Davidson Acad-
emy, a body composed of leading citizens and clergymen
of the place. That is what this group thinks of Robards's
pointing to Jackson as an adulterer. He will continue to
serve on this board, attend the meetings with uncommon
regularity, and take a leading part in the affairs of the
institution until 1805. And Davidson Academy will be-
come known as Nashville University — guided, in part, to
its high destiny by a man who never had an education in
the real sense, but who learned much from life in the

POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

glint of moonlights suspended over the wilderness, and
from the frank or furtive eyes of men.

5
Two years pass and all is well with everyone except
Robards, who is still being consumed by hatred, self-
love and jealousy. Word comes that Robards has been
granted a real divorce in the courts of Kentucky. The
transcript of the record shows what has happened :

"At a court of Quarter Sessions, held for Mercer
County, at the court house in Harrodsburgh, on the 27th
day of September, 1793, this day came the plaintiff by
his attorney, and thereupon came also a jury, to wit :
James Bradsbury, Thomas Smith, Gabriel Slaughter,
John Lightfoot, Samuel Work, Harrison Davis, John
Ray, Obediah Wright, John Miles, John Means, Joseph
Thomas, and Benjamin Sanless, who being elected, tried,
and sworn, well and truly to inquire into the allegation
in the plaintiff's declaration, specified upon oath, do say,
that the defendant, Rachel Robards, hath deserted the
plaintiff, Lewis Robards, and hath, and doth, still live in
adultery with another man. It is therefore considered by
the court that the marriage between the plaintiff and the
defendant be dissolved."

It is evident that this backwoods court and jury did
not waste too much of its precious time investigating the
circumstances of this case. It was true that Rachel ran
away from her husband, but it was also true that he had

ANDREW JACKSON

twice abandoned her, and finally imposed a condition for
their living together that was tantamount to a threat. It
was true that she had been living for two years with An-
drew Jackson before having been divorced from her hus-
band; but she thought, and so did Jackson and Overton
(both lawyers) think that the action of the Virginia As-
sembly in 1 79 1 was final. The wily Robards had set an
ugly trap.

It is especially upon Rachel Jackson, than whom a more
chaste woman never lived in Tennessee, that the court of
Kentucky placed the brand of Adultery. It is she — sweet,
pious Rachel — who must bear this stigma and have the
wound in her heart constantly exposed for the thirty-
four years that she is to be the wife of Andrew Jackson.
At last it will break her heart and she will die on the very
eve of his greatest triumph. It will not fall to her lot to be
the First Lady of the Land, but while she lives she shall
know the love and protection of stout-hearted Jackson,
and that shall be sufficient for this simple woman, branded
with the Scarlet Letter.

Although Robards had obtained his divorce in Septem-
ber, Overton did not hear of it until December, 1793,
after he and Jackson had started out to thread their way
through the wilderness to Jonesboro, where they are to
attend court. Jackson is amazed at this turn of events,
and for a long while he gallops by the side of Overton,
keeping an ominous silence, only his blazing eyes telling
of the tempest raging within him.

Overton suggests the propriety of Jackson obtaining
a second license to wed after they return to Nashville
from Jonesboro, but Jackson, at first, is adamant. He

POLISHES HIS PISTOLS AND WEDS

replies brusquely that he has been married for several
years, in the belief that a divorce had in fact been granted
by the Virginia legislature, and adds that everyone else
in the community at all familiar v^ith the circumstances
believed the same thing.

Hov^ever, Andrew^ Jackson is not a stubborn man in
all matters. He may be easily persuaded to change his
mind if approached in the proper manner. In this in-
stance the good name of Rachel is at stake. If he had this
account to square only with himself, he v^ould knov^ how
to meet it.

The legal matters that detain Jackson and Overton in
Jonesboro being concluded, they turn their horses west-
ward over the trail. It is a cold and bleak Winter, and at
night they dare not light a fire for fear of attracting a
band of warring Indians. Jackson has persuaded himself
that since he has given hostage to fortune he must be
less reckless with his pistols, and reduce, if possible, the
number of chances against his life.

In January, 1794, he returns to Nashville, obtains a
license, and for the second time he is married to Rachel
— on this occasion a Presbyterian clergyman officiating.
Thus he thinks he has silenced his critics now and for-
ever. He does not foresee that this matter will be made
an issue again and again. One of the reasons that he does
not foresee it is because he foresees scarcely anything of
a subtle nature, acting only when the time for action arises
— and then his aim is deadly, his purpose relentless. There
are a number of gentlemen who will find this out later on.

ANDREW JACKSON

It is not surprising that Jackson did not hear of the
Kentucky divorce until three months after it was granted.
West Tennessee in still an insulated region, surrounded
on every side by the w^ilderness, w^herein dwell savage In-
dians. There is no mail route established in this section
now, and there will be none until 1797.

Jackson's marriage, for all the clouds under which it
was contracted, is to be one of the happiest that was ever
made on this earth. These mates understand each other
sufficiently to have grace enough to let the other alone —
Jackson with his pistols and his dreams of civilizing
the immediate country and pushing the white man's tri-
umph further westward — Rachel with her Bible and her
long stem pipe, wanting nothing more than the company
of her tall man in the evenings by the fire light.

Their love shall increase as the years grow longer,
and shall become warmer as age lays its cool hand upon
their passion. He shall be to her always ''Mr. Jackson,"
never "General," much less "Andrew." He does not call
her "Rachel," but addresses her as "Mrs. Jackson," or
"wife."

Whatever reputation Jackson shall have in the world
of men — and it shall be black enough among his enemies,
and a grey even among some of his friends — in his home
with Rachel he will be known only as a loving, patient,
gentle, and considerate husband.

There will be only a few who will have an opportunity
to know that side of this turbulent man — this gun-toting,
head-hunting, gentle savage, who is about to become a
man of many affairs.

^:^^^:^i^^:<e^:«^i^ff:<i<i^^:^^^4^-i^^^':^^^^^^4^^^^^-^^^^^!^^^-^^^^^^

Chapter VII
MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

LET us go back a few years to see what has been
/ transpiring that has given Jackson such a prominent
position among his neighbors. His marital affairs have
occupied a large part of his attention, but he has not let
this master all of his thought, nor his time.

On May 26, 1790, Congress organized the country
between Kentucky and the present states of Alabama and
Mississippi as ''the Territory of the United States South-
west of the Ohio River" ; the name, being a mouthful, the
inhabitants edited it into "Southwest Territory." In Sep-
tember, 1790, William Blount, of North Carolina, was
appointed Regional Governor. In the following year the
northern half of the territory became the State of Ken-
tucky, so that Blount's jurisdiction was confined to the
southern half, or what is now the State of Tennessee.

Governor Blount had a ticklish job, one that might
easily bring him into marked disfavor, for the region had
grown accustomed to being governed as part of North
Carolina. Blount made his task easier by continuing in
office as many of the high officials as possible. John Mc-
Nairy, Jackson's old friend of Salisbury days, continues
in office as Territorial Judge. James Robertson, one of the

ANDREW JACKSON

first white men to arrive in Tennessee — a pioneer with
Rachel Jackson's father, John Donelson — is made Com-
mander of the mihtia ; Jackson, who has been Prosecutor
under the North CaroHna government in these western
counties, is appointed Attorney General for the Mcro Dis-
trict, which is the western extremity of the Southwest
Territory. Thus, Jackson is a United States Attorney, and
occupied that post when he married Rachel Robards.

For safety's sake, in view of the nervous condition of
the territory, what with the Indians almost constantly
on the war-path with the whites, and provinces ruled by
foreign kings on the west and southeast of Tennessee,
Governor Blount organized a cavalry regiment in each
district. Jackson's brother-in-law. Colonel Robert Hays,
is named to command the Mero regiment. A little later,
September lo, 1792, Jackson received his first military
office when Blount appointed him "Judge Advocate for
the Davidson Regiment." The place was of no importance,
but it provided Jackson with a wedge with which he
might pry military incompetents out of their jobs and
work his way into supreme command of the West Ten-
nessee militia.

In 1793, the Territory having the required five thousand
male adult population, the first step was taken toward
statehood by establishing a territorial legislature. The
Territory knows it will be admitted into the Union as a
state when its population shall have grown to sixty thou-
sand. And that will not be long, for the gazettes in the
region are beginning to publish laudatory accounts of
the ''advantages of living in a new country just opening
up." Evidently the merchants have formed a Chamber of

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

Commerce to boom local industries. The gazettes are even
announcing that the trails are ''safer" for the covered
wagon caravans than formerly, when they were way-
laid by the Indians.

But Jackson plays no part in this frontier boosters'
campaign. It appears he is not as much interested in the
territorial legislature as he is in first making the wilder-
ness safe for democracy. That it is not yet safe may be
judged from Ja<:kson's letter to Colonel John McKee,
who has been sent by Governor Blount on a mission to
pacify the Cherokees and restrain them from threatened
violence against the Territory.

The letter also shows the pain of Jackson's effort to
express himself on paper. His pistols bark far more elo-
quently. The letter:

Cumberland, Jan. 30, 1793
Dear Sir: I Received your letter by Mr. Russle and
observe that My papers were not forwarded pr first Ex-
press ; by advise of Governor Blount. Any Transaction of
yours or Governor Blount with respect to My Business
will be perfectly pleasing to me as I know by experience
that My Interest will be attended to by each. You are the
Best Judge what time will be most advantageous to for-
ward them; also what authentication will be most proper
to forward with them ; all, which, I let Rest with you.

The Late Express that proclaimed peace to our West-
ern Country; attended with the late Depredations and
Murders Committed by Indians on our frontier has oc-

ANDREW JACKSON

casioned a Great Clamour amongsht the people of this
District and it is Two Much to be dreaded that they
Indians has Made use of this Finesse to Lull the people
to sleep that they might save their Towns and open a
more Easy Road to Commit Murder with impunity; this
is proved by their late conduct, for since that Express,
nat Less than Twelve Men have been Killed and wounded
in this District : one question I would Beg leave to ask
why do we now attempt to hold a Treaty with them ; have
they attended to the Last Treaty; I answer in the Nega-
tive then why do we attempt to Treat with Saveage Tribe
that will neither adhere to Treaties, nor the law of Na-
tions, upon these particulars I would thank you for your
sentiments in your next. I have the honour to be with
the highest esteem, Your Mo, ob, Serv.

Andrew Jackson.

For all its lack of literary quality, coupled with its bad
spelling, Jackson manages to portray his character in this
letter most strikingly. It should be remembered that it
is not within his official capacity to inquire into matters
respecting treaties, and Colonel McKee is under no ob-
ligation to reply to Jackson. But matters such as juris-
diction and proper authority will never stand in Jackson's
way. The spirit of Jackson's letter, if not the style, an-
ticipates, by one hundred and twenty-four years, a series
of haughty epistles that will be written in correct and
austere English to a great empire at war with the world
by a President of the United States, who will most re-
semble Andrew' Jackson in the dual qualities of mind and
body — Woodrow Wilson. Both imperious Democrats.

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

In the following year, 1794, the Southwest Territory
is up in arms against the Indians who have provoked the
whites beyond endurance by the frequency and audacity
of their excursions into white settlements. The traders
are especially incensed, for they cannot hope to induce
emigrants to settle in this section under these perilous
auspices.

It is the merchant class of the Mero District which pre-
vails upon Governor Blount to ''take action." The In-
dians must be cleared out of the region. Their continued
presence is no economic benefit whatsoever to the white
traders, and the white housewives are afraid to leave their
spinning wheels and venture across the fields to make
necessary purchases for fear of being attacked and car-
ried away by the Red men. It is easy for Jackson to
sympathize with the merchants. For one thing, he is a
man of large land-holdings himself, and, although he can-
not eat the land, he can sell it in parcels to the emigrants
and home seekers who will come that way once they are
convinced the Indians are subdued. Hence, there is profit
to be gained by Jackson as well as others in the suppres-
sion of the Cher'okees.

But we shall attribute to Jackson no mean or mercenary
motives. His is a warrior's spirit — not a happy warrior
either — over and above everything else. He loves battles,
especially if they are to be fought in behalf of what he
calls justice. The Spirit of 'y6 is in his blood.

More than a year later, May 16, 1794, Jackson again
inquires of Colonel McKee as to the Indian situation, and

8.5

ANDREW JACKSON

takes occasion, to rebuke President Washington and Con-
gress "for their pacific disposition." Jackson at this time
is only twenty-seven years old, but his youth does not
dissuade him from telHng the world what he thinks of
General Washington — and what he thinks is not com-
plimentary, as Washington will discover for himself later
on if he reads the minutes of Congress.

On the above date Jackson takes his pen, instead of a
pistol, in hand, and writes to Colonel McKee :

Dear Sir: I Reed your letter of the 17th April 94
which give me Sanguine hopes of a General peace With
the Southern Indians, but I had Scarcely finished Reading
it before these hopes all Vanished, at the information of
the Murder of James Mc — since which time they have
been constantly infesting Our frontier. I fear that their
Peace Talks are only Delusions and in order to put us
of our Guard; why Treat with them does not Experience
teach us that Treaties answer No other Purpose than
opening an Easy door for the Indians to Pass through
to Butcher our Citizens; what Motives congress are
governed by with respect to their pacific Disposition
towards Indians I know not ; some say Humanity dictates
it; but Certainly she ought to Extend an Equal of hu-
manity towards her own Citizens ; in doing this Congress
would act Justly and Punish the Barbarians for Mur-
dering her innocent Citizens, has not our Citizen for
Marching to their Town and killing some of them, then
why not when they Committ Murders on our Citizens
agreeable to the Treaty demand the (murderers) if they
are not given up is an infringement of the Treaty and a

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

Cause of War and the whole Nation ought to be Scurged
for the infringement of the Treaty for as the Nation will
not give murderers up when demanded it is a acknowledg-
ment of their Consent to the Commission of the Crime
therefore all consenting are equally guilty, I dread the
consequences of the Esuing Summer, the Indians appear
Verry Troublesome the frontier Discouraged and break-
ing and numbers leaving the Territory and moving
to Kentucky; this Country is Declining fast, and unless
congress lends us a more ample protection this Coun-
try will have at length to break or seek a Protection
from some other Source than the present. I will thank
you for the News of the Place. My Next shall be more
full.

I am Dr. Sir yr. Hbl. st
Andrew Jackson.

That Jackson does not exaggerate the distress in the
territory of Tennessee is indicated by the fact that in
September, 1794, Governor Blount sanctioned the send-
ing by General Robertson of an expeditionary force into
the Cherokee country. This expedition, known as the
Nickajack, dealt the Red men a severe blow and induced
the tribe to leave the Cumberland settlements in peace ever
after. Jackson was not a member of this expedition, but
he was heartily in favor of it, although it was his duty
to seek to suppress it, since the federal government at
Philadelphia expressed Washington's view that the In-
dians were more sinned against than sinning, and there-
fore would not authorize retaliatory measures against
them.

ANDREW JACKSON

But General Robertson's NIckajackers broke the back
of the Cherokee designs on the settlement, and the pros-
perity of the territory dates from that expedition. Emi-
grants begin to pour into the Cumberland region in
ceaseless numbers. The merchants are happy and they add
considerably to the stock and size of their stores. Jackson,
as the principal attorney in the territory, likewise pros-
pers. Many of his fees for conducting suits of no great
importance are a square mile of land for each case. He
bought six hundred and fifty acres of the tract which
afterwards formed the Hermitage farm, for eight hun-
dred dollars. In a few more years he will become even a
more extensive land-holder, and will sell six thousand
dollars' worth of land to a gentleman in Philadelphia.
Much of this vast acreage had previously changed hands
by the sale of one horse, two cow-bells, a couple of axes,
or a barrel of whisky. The tide of emigration westward
bound would relieve him of much of it and put dollars
into his pockets — lots of dollars, for his pockets are deep.

But Andrew gives no more time or attention to the
acquisition of land and dollars than the matter properl}'
deserves. He finds plenty of time to race horses, attend
the arena where cocks are fought and to bet on them,
loiter over the bars of the taverns, drinking temperately,
and pen indignant letters to statesmen east and west, and
military officials about Indian depredations. He finds time,
too, to pass many an evening at home in his log cabin
with Rachel — both of them sitting near the open fire if
it is Winter, or out of doors in the moonlight if it is Sum-

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

mer, smoking fheir pipes, their ears attuned to the sHght-
est hostile sound in the brush nearby. Jackson never goes
anywhere without his pistols. He picks them up as natu-
rally as he does his hat, and jams them into the holsters
of his belt. Rachel, also, is proficient in the handling of
firearms. She is quite easy about life in this tall men's
territory, for her man is as tall as any, and feared and
respected as none other.

Many are the rough and tumble fights in which he is
often forced to take part where there is no time to draw
the pistol, or when so to do would be needless shedding
of blood. A blow with his fist or with a stick will often
clinch a point that a legal brief or a wordy summons
would be sure to miss.

Some years later Jackson will recall these scenes to a
visitor in the White House, who feared that when he
ventured forth he would be assailed because of his ar-
dent support of Jackson's administration.

"Now, Mr. B., if any one attacks you, I know how
you'll fight with that big stick of yours," said the Presi-
dent. "You'll aim right for his head. Well, sir, ten chances
to one he'll ward it off; and if you do hit him you won't
bring him down. No sir," Jackson continued, taking the
stick in his own hands to demonstrate how it should be
done, "you hold the stick so, and punch him in the stom-
ach, and you'll drop him. I'll tell you how I found that
out.

"When I was a young man practicing law In Tennessee,
there was a big bullying fellow that wanted to pick a

ANDREW JACKSON

quarrel with me, and so trod on my toes. Supposing it
accidental, I said nothing. Soon after, he did it again,
and I began to suspect his object. In a few minutes he
came by a third time, pushing against me violently and
evidently meaning fight. He was a man of immense size,
one of the very biggest men I ever saw. As quick as a
flash, I snatched a small rail from the top of the fence,
and gave him the pint of it full in his stomach. Sir, it
doubled him up. He fell at my feet, and I stamped on
him. Soon he got up savage, and was about to fly at me
like a tiger. The bystanders made as though they would
interfere.

''Says I, 'Gentlemen, stand back, give me room, that's
all I ask, and I'll manage him.' With that I stood ready
with the rail pinted. He gave me one look, and turned
away, a whipped man, sir, and feeling like one. So, sir,
I say to you, if any villain assaults you, give him the pint
in his belly."

Jackson's first duel occurs during these law-making
days on the frontier. His antagonist is none other than
old Colonel Waightsill Avery, at whose home in Morgan-
ton, North Carolina, Jackson had first applied for in-
struction in the law. Often Jackson and Colonel Avery
were opponents in law suits in the Jonesboro court. One
morning Jackson is espousing the cause of his client
warmly and seems to make the issue his own — an ha-
bitual failing and one that will involve him in many vio-
lent disputes.

Colonel Avery ridicules a legal position taken by Jack-
son, using language more sarcastic than is called for.
Jackson is stung to the quick. He snatches a pen and

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

scrawls on the fly leaf of a law book a challenge to a
duel. Colonel Avery is no duelist; in fact, he is opposed
to that method of settling arguments, but not to accept
the challenge would be to lose caste on the frontier.

The case at bar is submitted to the jury, and after
sun-down the adversaries appear in the street, both look-
ing for seconds. It is dusk before the arrangements are
completed and the parties march to a hollow North of
Jonesboro. The ground is measured and the principals are
placed. The command, ''Ready," is given, and they fire.
Neither is hit, and Jackson acknowledges himself satis-
fied. They shake hands, for Jackson is somewhat ashamed
of this hasty display of temper toward his old friend, and
they are to remain on good terms ever after.

It is also at Jonesboro that a fire occurs one night in
a stable near the court-house and the tavern. People run
into the street, and Jackson happens to be leaning on the
bar in the tavern when he hears the commotion outside.
Lawyers, judges, women in their nightdresses, and loi-
terers fill the street. At once Jackson assumes command.
Leadership is conceded to him by unspoken consent. He
forms the men into two lines and shouts for buckets. He
orders the roofs of the tavern and the courthouse covered
with wet blankets. At this moment a frontier giant, who
is confined in jail charged with cropping the ears of his
wife's illegitimate child, born during the husband's ab-
sence of a year in the wilderness, tears out the bars of his
cell and joins the bucket brigade. This man, Russell Bean,
the first white man born in Tennessee, will share with
Jackson the honor of having saved Jonesboro from de-
struction. But these honors will not be distributed until

ANDREW JACKSON

Jackson has knocked down a drunken rowdy with a bucket
because the man persists in jabbering instead of becom-
ing a fireman.

It is July, 1795. Jackson has passed six years on the
frontier among people like himself — hardy pioneers —
generous, yet frugal ; kind, yet ruthless ; quick to resent a
wrong, quick to exact an accounting for it, and quick to
forget it once the payment in blood or treasure is made.
Jackson is a singular exception in this respect: he not
only invokes heavy reprisals for wrongs, real or imagi-
nary, imposed upon his kith or kin, but he never forgets
them even after reparations are made. An injustice done
to a friend might just as well be done to him, for he will
fight as quickly to vindicate the honor and the rights of
his friends as he will for his own. This quality wins him
hosts of friends and an equal number of enemies, for the
enemies of his friends are his foes, too.

Jackson will pay dearly for this quality, but in the long
run it will compensate him with perhaps the largest per-
sonal following a President has ever known. Some of his
most ardent and, albeit, thoughtless admirers will even
speak of upsetting the republican form of government
and proclaiming Jackson as King Andrew I. These fol-
lowers, largely from the backwoods where public schools
still are unknown (Tennessee, for example, will not in-
augurate a system of public schools until 1830), will
accomplish nothing other than to furnish Jackson's ene-
mies, who are legion and among the most formidable a

MAN OF MANY AFFAIRS

President has ever known, with ammunition to attack
him as a tyrant and usurper.

But just now the territorial legislature has ordered
a census to be taken for the purpose of ascertaining
whether there is the requisite number of sixty thousand
inhabitants for the admission of the Territory into the
Union as a sovereign state. The census is taken, and, in
November, Governor Blount announces that the Terri-
tory contains seventy-seven thousand two hundred and
sixty-two inhabitants.

The Governor therefore calls upon the people of the
respective counties to elect five persons for each county
to represent them in the constitutional convention, which
will assemble January ii, 1796, at Knoxville, the seat of
the Territorial government, ''for the purpose of forming
a Constitution or permanent form of government."

President Washington and members of Congress at
Philadelphia hear of this move and are plainly chagrined.
How dare the people of this howling wilderness presume
to usher themselves into the Union as a state without
federal permission ! Only last year they made bold to
send an armed expeditionary force against the Cherokees
without the government's sanction; in fact, in flagrant
opposition to the government's policy.

Well, President Washington may fume and fret if he
likes, because Philadelphia is a long, long trail from
Tennessee, and before any word can possibly reach the
wilderness of his pointed displeasure the movement toward
statehood will have advanced too far to retreat.

Davidson County elects its five delegates, among whom

ANDREW JACKSON

are Judge McNairy, General Robertson and Andrew Jack-
son. General Robertson's wife is still teaching him how
to read. This is the first position to which Jackson has
been elected by the people. Plainly he is pleased. What
young man of twenty-nine could resist being proud of
assisting in the writing of a Constitution and a Bill of
Rights for a new state?

One evening Jackson pulls out of his pocket a ponder-
ous document. Supper over, he brings his chair, and one
for Rachel, over to the bright fire. They fill their pipes.
Rachel is knitting a shawl for one of her innumerable
nieces. For a long while there is silence between them.
Only the night wind outside puts commas and exclama-
tion points into the unbroken quietude within. Jackson
leans forward, the document dangling between his long
legs, so that the light from the logs will make the reading
easier.

'What are you reading, Mr. Jackson?" Rachel asks.

''Constitution, wife," he replies.

"Aint you well, Mr. Jackson?" she asks, anxiously.

The tall man folds the copy of North Carolina's charter
and lays it on the table beside his pistols. He smiles at
Rachel and pats her hand.

"There's pint to that Constitution," he says. Rachel
bursts into laughter that sounds like running water. She
has learned another use for the word Constitution.

Jackson has need to brush up on the subject. He is
going to help write the Charter for Tennessee. Andrew
has become a statesman.

Chapter VIII
THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

FIFTY-FIVE frontiersmen, five from each of the
eleven counties, appear in the Httle town of Knox-
ville on a cold morning in January, 1796. They are going
to write a State Constitution. From all directions, they
have galloped into the village, many of them having been
in the saddle several days and nights, with brief inter-
missions for food and rest at taverns along the trails.
Andrew Jackson is among those who have come the
farthest distance. With Judge McNairy and his other col-
leagues, he slept only a few hours last night at a tavern,
and has been riding his horse through the mountains
toward Knoxville since long before dawn.

The men stand in groups near a small building, which
afterward will serve as a school-house, surrounded by
tall trees of the primeval wilderness. Many of them have
never met each other before, and some may never meet
again. Others shall fight side by side in future battles
that have yet to punctuate Americans history in this early
period. There are not more than two or three dozen log
cabins, a couple of stores, a church and the Governor's
house scattered over the town of Knoxville, but the in-
habitants are astir early, having been awakened by the

ANDREW JACKSON

beat of horses' hoofs on the hard roads entering the town.

The building has been fitted up for the reception of
the Constitution-makers at the cost of twelve dollars and
sixty-two cents — ten dollars for seats, and the rest for oil
cloth to cover the tables. Although the legislature has
fixed the compensation of the delegates at two dollars
and a half a day, it has neglected to provide funds for
a secretary, a printer and a door-keeper. The first busi-
ness of the convention, therefore, is to resolve that "in-
asmuch as economy is an amiable trait in any government,
and, in fixing the salaries of the officers thereof, the
situation and resources of the country should be attended
to, therefore one dollar and a half per diem is enough
for us, and no more w^ill any man of us take, and the
rest shall go to the payment of the secretary, the printer,
doorkeeper and other officers."

Although many of these Constitution-makers shoul-
dered muskets in the War for Independence and have good
reason to dislike England and her ways, they straightway
adopt rules for the convention similar to those obtaining
in the British House of Commons. It will be noted many
times throughout the history of this republic that Ameri-
can law-makers fall back upon British law and custom for
precedent and pattern. The convention organized, it pro-
ceeds to appoint two members from each county to draft
a Charter, and Judge McNairy and Jackson are selected
to represent Davidson County. In twenty-seven days the
task will be accomplished and the delegates will depart
for their homes, with something of the spirit of bad boys
who have turned the trick while their elders were not
watching them. And yet, the federal government at Phila-

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

delphia is watching Tennessee, but is helpless to do any-
thing about it.

Philadelphia has misgivings about this backwoods Ter-
ritory. It knows the whites to be fearless men of action
who are determined to rid their settlements of the Indian
menace at all cost. Now the federal government is not
only disposed to be friendly toward the Red men, but,
being heavily in debt because of the recent Revolution,
it has no money with which to prosecute a war against
the Indian nations, even if it were of a mind so to do.
Moreover — and this is equally important — the Federalist
Party recognizes in the Southwest Territory a militant
spirit which is somewhat in disharmony with the desire
in the East to maintain the status quo, at least for the
present. The East is secure, and already a certain aspect
of complacency has appeared in high places. Having pro-
claimed its independence in a Declaration of ''glittering
generalities" twenty years ago, it evinces a tendency to
go no further, and this the West, which is republican, can-
not comprehend. There is growing up on the western
frontiers a dissatisfaction with the government at Phila-
delphia, because the government fails to appreciate the
tremendous travail through which the West is passing
to found a white's man's civilization. The policy at Phila-
delphia seems to be to let sleeping dogs lie.

In their constitutional convention, the people of the
Southwest Territory are acting on the basis of a supposed
right to statehood, which they feel is implied in the act
by which Congress received North Carolina's cession of

ANDREW JACKSON

the whole region. There is no precedent for the creation
of states out of territories, hence the people of Tennessee
have no alternative but to make the gesture and see what
becomes of it. But none can doubt that there is a spirit
of defiance of federal authority among these pioneers
who take the gorgeous rhetoric in the Declaration literally,
while they carve out of the wilderness signs and symbols
of civilization.

The democratic principles of Jackson at this conven-
tion are somewhat dubious when contrasted with his
precepts of a latter day that make him the loud spokesman
of Militant Democracy and the protector of the rights
of men who are without property or social position.

He now opposes the principle of universal suffrage and
equal rights. He is one of the framers of the clause that
allows a rich man a vote in every county in which he
may own a certain quantity of land, and confines the
poor man to a single vote in the county in which he re-
sides. He advocates the clause recommending the ex-
clusion from the legislature of every man who does not
possess two hundred acres of land in his own right. A
governor must possess a freehold estate of five hundred
acres. Jackson seconds a motion forbidding clergymen
from holding seats in the legislature. He supports the
motion that there shall be two houses of the legislature,
the House and the Senate. Judge McNairy is in favor
of one House.

Jackson supports the clause that provides that no one
shall be received as a witness who denies the existence
of God, or disbeHeves in "a state of future rewards and
punishments." In this clause, Tennessee is laying the

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

cornerstone of the temple of Fundamentalism that will
serve as a refuge for theological dogma, and a challenge
to science and common sense in a serio-comic tableau
in which William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow
will be the principal opposing actors in a theme of whether
or not it is decent and Christian to teach the theory of
evolution in Tennessee's schools and colleges after 1925.
That episode will be known as the "Dayton Trial."

The claim of the Spaniards to the exclusive navigation
rights on the Mississippi River has been aggravating the
Tennesseeans for some years. What time and place more
fitting to repulse this claim of a foreign power than
at the constitutional convention of Tennessee? Jackson,
therefore, vehemently supports the clause in the Bill of
Rights which declares that ''an equal participation of the
free navigation of the Mississippi is one of the inherent
rights of the citizens of this State; it can not, therefore,
be conceded to any prince, potentate, power, person or
persons whatever." Jackson, in particular, will remember
this clause, as it shall be his part henceforth for twenty
years to execrate the Spaniards.

The convention having completed its labors, Jackson re-
crosses the Cumberland and the wilderness lying beyond
it. The convention has left to the Assembly, which it
created, the task of putting the new state government into
operation, and has fixed March 28, 1796, as the time when
the territorial government shall expire. It has declared,
moreover, that if Congress fails to accept Tennessee into
the sisterhood of states, the commonwealth will continue
to exist as an independent state. Congress, in considering
the matter, will note this defiance.

ANDREW JACKSON

At all events, Thomas Jefferson studies the Charter
of the new state, and praises it as the most republican
one of all the state constitutions. The Federalists, on the
other hand, look askance at Tennessee.

The new state legislature meets and promptly elects
^'Citizen John Sevier" as its first Governor. The French
revolutionary influence is evident in the prefix of the
word ''Citizen," yet this is after Robespierre had been
guillotined, and Bonaparte had put down the insurrection
of Paris. But Tennessee has not heard of this. Revolu-
tions in even as remote places as France hearten these
backwoodsmen, who are accustomed to killings in the
name of liberty. Possibly because there is no political ma-
chinery, the Constitution is not submitted to the people for
approval. Perhaps the majority could not read it if they
saw it, hence they invest implicit trust in its framers not
to betray them, and the framers are true to that trust.

Governor Sevier led the hardy mountaineers against
the Royalist troops and the Tories in South Carolina in
the War for Independence. He was "a, leading citizen" in
eastern Tennessee when Jackson was a boy, and the
people naturally turned to him and made him Governor
of the ''state" of Franklin, which actually comprised the
rebellious western counties of North Carolina when the
latter state was endeavoring to cede them to the federal
government.

Sevier has a large following in eastern Tennessee,
while Jackson's strength is in the West. It is inevitable
that they should become rivals for supreme mastery over
the infant state, and rivalry on the frontier is not a mat-
ter of political palaver. It is conducive to intense, bitter,

lOO

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

personal enmity that sooner or later must strike a balance
in a duel. But this broth will simmer a while longer be-
fore boiling over.

Meanwhile, there are several choice offices to be filled.
William Blount, former Governor of the Southwest Ter-
ritory, and William Cocke, who will become a military
leader later on, are elected the first United States Senators
from the new state. George Conway is elected Major
General of the Tennessee Militia, but in a few years he
will yield this post to Andrew Jackson.

Tennessee is entitled to but one representative in the
lower house of Congress, and early in the Fall of 1796,
Jackson is elected to this post. President Washington is
serving the last year of his second term and already he is
yearning for private life at Mount Vernon. Tennessee
chooses three Presidential electors who will cast the vote
of their state for Thomas Jefferson for President, and
Aaron Burr for Vice President. The infant state admires
Jefferson because he is an opponent of the Federalist
Party. It does not in the least perceive the deep passionate
quality of his humanitarian philosophy, nor the import
of complete democracy which the Virginian espouses.
Tennessee throws its second choice to Burr because the
brilliant New Yorker was the leading advocate in Con-
gress for the admission of the new state into the Union,
which is accomplished on June i, 1796, just as Congress
is about to adjourn.

Late in October, Jackson bids good-bye to Rachel,
straps his pistols around his waist, mounts his horse, and

lOI

ANDREW JACKSON

is off for Philadelphia — a distance of eight hundred miles.
He must reach the city of the Quakers and the seat of
government by December 5, when Congress will convene.
One may easily imagine the perils of his ride through
mountains infested with Indians, days and nights with
little sleep, often obliged to make his bed on the ground
in the depths of the wilderness! It will be many years
before Congressman Jackson's successors ride to Wash-
ington from Nashville in Pullman cars on government
mileage, smoking cigars while gazing out of the windows
upon populous cities and prosperous farmlands that were
unblazed trails when Jackson led the way in 1796.

But even in that early day, Jackson was not entirely
alone on the road to Philadelphia. Constantly he was
meeting covered wagon trains carrying settlers to the
western country. Many of them were bound for the Cum-
berland region and would settle in Tennessee, now that
it had become a state. Churches and schools will soon be
built, and many of the comforts and some of the luxuries
will begin to appear, for these people are coming out of
the East, and they will implant in the West a phase of
their own civilization, which is a little less strenuous than
that to which the frontier has been accustomed.

The Honorable Andrew Jackson of Tennessee pur-
chases a suit of broadcloth for thirty dollars. He hopes to
cut quite a figure in Philadelphia, a city of sixty-five
thousand inhabitants, and the center of all that the young
republic can boast of the intelligent and the refined. Al-
bert Gallatin, a leading member of Congress at this time,
will recall Jackson many years later and describe him:
''A tall, lank, uncouth looking personage, with long locks

102

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

of hair hanging over his face, and a queue down his back
tied in an eel skin; his dress singular, his manners and
deportment those of a rough backwoodsman." The ele-
gant Gallatin — European to the core — for all his par-
tiality toward his adopted country, is not a seer, for
he fails to foresee that the rough backwoodsmen, despite
their lack of Philadelphia manners and Congressional de-
portment, are building a democracy on a new continent,
not debating it in the security of social position and politi-
cal preferment.

Even Martha Washington, one day during the second
term of her husband's Administration, rebukes her niece,
Nellie Custis, for having entertained "one of those filthy
Democrats" in the Executive Mansion.

And who was a ''filthy Democrat" when Jackson
reached Philadelphia to take his seat in Congress? He
was one who sympathized ardently with the French
Revolution and believed the United States was doubly
bound — by gratitude and by union of principles — to aid
the French Republic against the 'leagued despotisms."
He believed it was due humanity that England be hum-
bled; he opposed the compromising measures of General
Washington's Administration; he detested Alexander
Hamilton's financial system, the National Bank, and its
issues of paper money; more, he hated Hamilton, who
believed in the rule of an aristocracy of money; he hated
kings, princes and privileged orders, and espoused warmly
the principles of democracy as set forth in the Declara-
tion and specified in the enabling act — Federal Constitu-

103

ANDREW JACKSON

tlon. He was, in sum, a follower of Jefferson, who
unfurled the banner of equal rights, and laid it down
as an axiom of freedom that ''that government is best
which governs least." This, in fine, was Andrew Jackson's
political complexion in 1 796.

Two days after Jackson takes his seat in Congress,
President Washington appears before that body to de-
liver his last annual address. The tone of the oration is
partisan. The republicans are incensed.

The committee of the House, among whose members
we find James Madison, prepares an answer to the re-
tiring President in similar spirit. The republican bloc, or
insurgents, in the House object to being made to declare
they approve of the measures of Washington's Adminis-
tration. They try, but fail, to obtain an amendment that
will soften the reply and neutralize it from their stand-
point.

When the House's reply of indorsement of General
Washington is put to a vote, twelve out of fifty-six mem-
bers oppose it ; among the twelve are Andrew Jackson and
Edward Livingston, of New York, the latter a republican
in theory, but an aristocrat by temperament, training and
culture. Livingston's vote against Washington is suf-
ficient to endear him to Jackson, and a friendship is
formed in the House between them that shall endure all
of their lives. Livingston will be raised to high place.

The chief issue that impels the insurgents to oppose
indorsement of Washington's regime is John Jay's treaty
with England. By the terms of this treaty England prom-
ises redress to but few of the wrongs of which the United
States has complained. It leaves England free to impress

104

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

American sailors ; it leaves her free to prohibit American
trade with the French colonies ; it permits England to
confiscate French goods on American vessels. It provides
for the early evacuation of western forts, which the
British are still holding despite the stipulations of 1783.
It is impossible for republicans to accept this treaty.

In New York, Alexander Hamilton has attempted to
make a speech in defense of the treaty and he is driven
from the platform with a volley of stones. In Boston the
streets are chalked with inscriptions that read : "Damn
every one that won't sit up all night damning John Jay."
Republicans are wondering: Why the separation from
England in 1776 if the American nation approves a treaty
like this one twenty years later?

For the rest, Jackson's service in the House does not
distinguish him as a statesman, but he obtains the pas-
sage of two measures which greatly increase his popu-
larity in Tennessee. One is a bill to place a regiment on
the southern border of the state for protection against
Indians, and the other is a bill to pay those who par-
ticipated as Territorial troops in the unauthorized Nicka-
jack Expedition of 1793. This bill was debated at length,
with Jackson several times on his feet, before its final
passage, which was accomplished with the leadership of
Madison, who rose frequently in Jackson's behalf.

Jackson's days in Philadelphia are full of tedium. In

no sense does he become a part of the city's social life,

and into its circles of culture he has no passport. In his

letters to his friends back home, which are in the na-

105

ANDREW JACKSON

ture of reports to his constituency, there is a note of
yearning to be among them, loitering over the bars, racing
horses and fighting cocks. He writes to Colonel Hays,
his brother-in-law, on January 8, 1797:

'The Directory of France has given orders to their
armed vessels to capture all american vessels bound to or
from a British port which is bottomed on the Decree, to
Treat all Nutral flags in the same manner Nutral flags
suffer themselves to be treated by the english, the eng-
lish still continuing their Captures of our vessels when
bound to a french port. In what this may end I cannot
Conjecture . . . The Legislature of the Union progresses
slowly in business the greater part of the time as yet has
been taken up in committess prepareing business for the
house. . . . take care of my little rachael untill I re-
turn . . . Adams will be president and Jeferson vice.
Adams has 71 votes Jeferson 68."

To Governor Sevier he writes a few weeks later :

'T am sorry to see our Country by the Conduct of
our Government involved in such a situation with the
republick of France, who are now struggling to obtain
for themselves the same Blessings that we fought and
bled for, we ought to wish them success if we could not
aid them. How the present difference with France May
terminate is for wiser Politicians than Me to Determine."

On the third of March, Congress having adjourned,
Jackson bids farewell to the few friends he has made

106

THE BACKWOODS STATESMAN

while in Philadelphia — among them Aaron Burr and Ed-
ward Livingston. His heart is considerably lighter as he
rides back over the trail toward the Cumberland. The
business of being a statesman has been a bit wearisome
to this tall man from Tennessee, who is accustomed to
action and finding plenty of it.

An enthusiastic throng greets Jackson as he gallops
into Nashville. Reports of his activities at the nation's
capital have in every way been satisfactory to the natives,
especially since, due to his exertions, every man in Ten-
nessee who had seen service or lost property as a con-
sequence of the Indian wars might expect compensation
from the government.

Accordingly, there having occurred a vacancy in the
state's senatorial representation, Jackson is overwhelm-
ingly elected a United States Senator. He knows the
election is a compliment to his services in the House, but
he is reluctant to accept the higher post. He feels keenly
his inability to cope with the shrewd minds in the United
States Senate. He has no stomach for the business.

Still, in November, 1797, Jackson is back in Philadel-
phia. President Adams, Congress and the country are wait-
ing to see what will be the result of the negotiations with
France. Will it be peace, or war ? The President will have
a hard time getting the country, particularly the West, in
the mood to fight France, for there is a pronounced sen-
timent in America for Bonaparte. Jackson remains a
Bonapartist to the end of Napoleon's career at Saint
Helena.

107

ANDREW JACKSON

Meanwhile, he is busy with the arrangement of the
dispute between Tennessee and the government on the
question of the Cherokee boundary. He writes to General
Robertson :

''Congressional business progresses slowly; all impor-
tant questions postponed until we are informed of the
result of our negotiation with France. The Tennessee
Memorial (boundary dispute) has attracted the attention
of the two Houses for some time . . . France has finally
concluded a treaty with the Emperor and the King of
Sardinia, and is now turning her force toward Great
Britain. Bonaparte, with one hundred and fifty thousand
troops (used to conquer) is ordered to the coast, and
called the army of England. Do not then be surprised if
my next letter should announce a revolution in England
. . . Should Bonaparte make a landing on the English
shore, tyranny will be humbled, a throne crushed, and
a republic will spring from the wreck, and millions of
distressed people restored to the rights of man by the
conquering arm of Bonaparte."

Senator Jackson votes against the Alien and Sedition
bill, which President Adams has sponsored for the pur-
pose of suppressing opposition in the country to his
foreign policy. Writing to Senator Mason, of Virginia,
an extreme republican (Democrat) like himself, Jackson
expresses his view of this measure quite forcefully:

"... I really fear it will pass the other House, so
ready do our Countrymen seem to 'court the Yoke and

1 08

BACKWOODS STATESMAN

bow the neck to Caesar.' A committee of the Senate are
appointed to bring in an AlHen Bill, by which I under-
stand it is intended to give the Prest an absolute power
according to his discretion, his caprice or his resentment,
any Foreigner he pleases. A Sedition Bill is also intended
to authorize the same omnipotent person to muzzle or
silence such presses as he pleases, probably to controul
and regulate meetings of the people, and perhaps to banish
such political Infidels as you and myself, for such is the
intolerance of J A (John Adams) and his party."

There is nothing new under the sun ! In 191 7, when the
United States government entered the World War on
the side of the Allied Powers against Germany and the
Central Powers, President Wilson, an idealist and a
Democrat, sponsored an Alien Bill and a Sedition Bill,
called the Espionage Act. Under its terms many honest
persons were imprisoned for their opinions, and millions
of others, imbued with the spirit of Democracy, gasped,
for they could not believe a free government would dare
stifle sincere minority opinion. It could happen even when
the republic was being managed by men who fought and
bled in the War for Independence! Small wonder Jack-
son was amazed. But why the astonishment in 191 7 when
1776 had already faded into a legend, and liberty had be-
come a statue?

Jackson is plainly displeased with his task. In April,
1798, he takes leave of the Senate, goes home to Nashville
and resigns his seat. He feels himself out of place in

109

ANDREW JACKSON

Philadelphia, and he is disgusted with the Adams Ad-
ministration and its projects. His contact with Vice Presi-
dent Jefferson has been slight, but he still carries away
with him an immense admiration for the philosopher of
Monticello whose philosophy Jackson does not grasp and
never will.

IIO

Chapter IX

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE

JACKSON has scarcely divested himself of senatorial
dust and made up his mind to devote the rest of his
life — he is only thirty-one — to keeping a general store
and managing his farm and slaves, when the legislature
elects him a judge of the State Supreme Court. He is
plainly dismayed, for he distrusts his ability to administer
the law even in a backwoods court where exact knowledge
of jurisprudence is neither expected nor required. These
natives would much rather have an ounce of justice than
a pound of law, and Jackson, knowing this, prepares to
give them their due. It is doubtful if a more unlearned
judge ever sat on a bench, and it would be equally dif-
ficult to find one more determined to dispense justice ac-
cording to his lights.

There is not one decision of Judge Jackson's on record,
for they were not kept in his day. Recorded decisions
began with his successor, Judge Overton. Jackson holds
this post for six years, and while his decisions will be
brief, untechnical and ungrammatical, tradition will say
they were generally right. He will maintain the dignity
and the authority of the bench at all hazards, and they
will indeed be many.

Ill

ANDREW JACKSON

He will hold court in due succession at Nashville, Jones-
boro, and Knoxville — three distant corners of the state
— and the perils of the frontier and the wilderness, that
he encountered so often while riding this circuit as Prose-
cuting Attorney, will be repeated in his six years as
Judge.

Jackson begins his stormy career as a Judge by hurling
a challenge for a duel to William Cocke, one of the first
United States Senators from Tennessee. As he grows
toward maturity and the years begin to whiten his long
sandy hair his temper grows correspondingly shorter.

It is almost as if he had the sense of being a little boy
again and he imagines his playmates are constantly pick-
ing on him because he is poor, or because he slobbers, or
because his legs are too long, and his hair is too red.
As a man he is sensitive of his shortcomings, sensitive
of the blunder attending his marriage, fearful lest any-
one will not think he is as important as he knows he is.
A century hence — 1928 — such subconscious feelings as his
will have been reduced into the science of psychology, and
the trouble bothering Andrew Jackson will be given the
high-sounding label, ''Complex." Senator Cocke means
him no ill, but Jackson does not take the trouble to in-
quire or reason whether he does or not. Off goes his
letter :

Sir : Your making publick my private and confidential
letter and making use of it to impress on the publick mind
that I wrote that letter in order to deceive you, and
further publishing to the world that I had acted the

112

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

double part with you in your election for Senator, are
such injuries as require Satisfaction, the information
which you have attempted to justify those charges and
ground the publicity of my letter upon having upon in-
vestigating proved to be false, Justice calls aloud for Re-
dress, the Gentleman who will hand you this is authorized
to transact the Business on My part.

Andrew Jackson.

The spirit and import of this letter is repeated by Jack-
son in three other letters within as many days, but the
matter blows over, for Senator Cocke is more tractable
than Jackson and not nearly as good a shot. But this is
only a rehearsal for what is to come. Indeed, Jackson
seems to merit Jefferson's description of him as reported
by Daniel Webster many years later when Webster's feel-
ing against Jackson ran high. Webster quotes Jefferson :
**When I was President of the Senate he was a Senator,
and he could never speak on account of the rashness of
his feelings. I have seen him attempt it repeatedly, and
as often choke with rage."

But Jackson's temper does not prevent him from in-
dulging his playful moods, for often when he leaves the
bench in any one of the three towns where he holds court
he will go straight to the race track, or to the arena where
cocks are fought, and bet his week's salary and even more
on a chicken or a horse. The emoluments of his high
office are six hundred dollars a year; this is the second
highest pay for a public office, as the Governor receives
only seven hundred and fifty dollars a year. There is

113

ANDREW JACKSON

nothing top-lofty about him; he endears himself to these
backwoodsmen and becomes their idol; they know if they
get into trouble through no fault of their own, Jackson
will get them out, with or without benefit of law.

Let a man be contemptuous of the law, however, and
Judge Jackson will humble him. Russell Bean, the giant,
the first white man born in Tennessee and the terror of
the frontier, finds this out. This is the same Bean who
helped Jackson put out a tavern fire.

One day Judge Jackson is holding court in a village
shanty. A great hulking fellow. Bean, no less, armed with
a pistol and a bowie knife, parades before the court-
house, and curses the Judge and jury and all assembled
therein in words of one syllable. It is not the language
that shocks the Court, for Judge Jackson is unbeatable
in forming classic combinations of profanity, but his eyes
are ablaze with fury at this assault upon the Majesty of
the Law.

''Sheriff!" thunders the Judge, "arrest that man for
contempt of court and confine him !" The Sheriff goes out
and returns as quickly, reporting that he cannot take the
offender.

''Summon a posse, then," Jackson roars, "and bring
him before me."

Again the Sheriff goes forth and rounds up a squad of
strong-arm men to help him make the arrest. Bean sees
the posse approaching and bellows that he will "shoot the
first skunk that comes within ten feet."

The Sheriff returns to court and reports no progress.

114

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE

Jackson's patience is exhausted. No man shall defy his
authority, privately or publicly. *'Mr. Sheriff, since you
cannot obey my orders, summon me; yes sir, summon
me." The Sheriff accordingly orders Judge Jackson to
make the arrest himself, and the Judge adjourns court
for ten minutes. He picks up his pistols reposing beside
the law books on the bench and strides forth. Bean is
standing in the center of a crowd, waving his weapons
and vowing death to all who attempt to molest him. The
crowd is now certain they will witness a killing.

Judge Jackson, hatless, with pistols in hand, walks into
the center of the group. He looks Bean straight in the
eye.

''Surrender, you infernal villain, this very instant, or
by God Almighty I'll blow you through as wide as a
gate !" For a second both men glare at one another. Bean
drops his weapons and caves in. Asked by the Sheriff
later why he knuckled under to one man, Bean said:
''When he came up, I looked him in the eye, and I saw
shoot, and there wasn't shoot in nary other eye in the
crowd."

Judge Jackson's feud with Governor John Sevier now
opens. There are several reasons for this, but the chief
one is that Governor Sevier told Jackson to his face that
the only public service he ever heard of Jackson perform-
ing was to run off with another man's wife. "Great God !"
Jackson exclaimed. "Do you mention her sacred name?"
A challenge to a duel follows. But there were some mat-
ters that led up to this. The year is 1801, and Jackson has
gained an advantage over Sevier which is calculated to
wound and disgust the impetuous old soldier, victor in

115

ANDREW JACKSON

many, many battles, and now being forced to compete
with Jackson as the bravest, and therefore the most popu-
lar, man in the state.

Sevier in 1801 is out of office. The major general-
ship of the militia of Tennessee is vacant, and the two
warriors are candidates for the post. The office of major
general is in the gift of field officers, who are empowered
by the State Constitution to elect their chief. Jackson is
away holding court when the day comes for the vote.
It is a tie between Sevier and the Judge, and Governor
Roane, being commander-in-chief of the militia, gives
his vote to Jackson. This is actually the beginning of
Jackson's military career, although he will not have an
opportunity to put his leadership to the test for some
years. Still, his prestige is immense. A military office of
this kind on the frontier is not a matter of showy gal-
loping and pomp. A man is chosen General because of
his ability to lead his men when danger impends, and the
Indian menace in Tennessee is a real affair. Jackson has
been elected Major General because he is esteemed by the
militiamen as the best and bravest man in the whole state
for that task. His political record has not figured in the
equation. Sevier is humbled.

Judge Jackson also has exposed the fact that public
lands in Tennessee have been fraudulently bought and
sold, and that some of these lands were obtained by no
less a person than Sevier, then Governor of the State.
It was quite a scandal on the frontier. Although Sevier
was innocent of moral wrong-doing, he was technically
guilty because he shared in the loot. This was another
cause of the feud. A year or two later Sevier is again

116

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE

running for Governor, and the old animosities break
out anew.

In 1803, Jackson is traveling from Nashville to Jones-
boro where he will hold court. He meets a friend along
the trail who informs him that when he reaches Jonesboro
he will be mobbed by Sevier's henchmen. Jackson spurs
his horse on to Jonesboro. When he reaches the town he
is ill with fever. He has been scarcely able to sit on his
mount during the long arduous ride. No sooner does he
go to the tavern and to bed than a friend calls and says
Colonel Harrison "and a regiment of men" are in front
of the tavern ready to tar and feather him. His friend
advises Jackson to bolt and bar his door, as Harrison
''means business."

Judge Jackson rises and throws his door wide open.

''Give my compliments to Colonel Harrison, and tell
him my door is open to receive him and his regiment
whenever they choose to wait upon me, and that I hope
the Colonel's chivalry will induce him to lead his men,
not follow them." Jackson sits on the side of the bed,
for he is too ill to stand, facing the door, a pistol in each
hand.

The "regiment" think better of their purpose and dis-
perse. A few days later Jackson writes to his friend, John
Hutchings, in Nashville:

"I have been much threatened at Jonesborough by the
Sevierites whilst sick, but as soon as I got upon my legs,
from the fierceness of lyons, they softened down to the
Gentleness of lambs, there is no spirit amongst them. If
a man was alone without arms, a mob of fifty might make

117

ANDREW JACKSON

an attack, but they knew I was prepared, and they sneaked
to their Den."

From Jonesboro Judge Jackson proceeds to Knoxville,
the capital of the state. The legislature is in session at
the residence of Governor Sevier, who has succeeded
Roane. With the convening of the Supreme Court, the
streets of the town are filled with people, loitering about
the public buildings and talking loudly and wildly about
the issues of the day, which chiefly concern the feud be-
tween the Governor and Judge of the Supreme Court
and Major General of the militia. Judge Jackson enters
the court-house and all is well. He holds his court with-
out molestation, but as he re-appears he sees Governor
Sevier haranguing a crowd in the public square. The
Judge stalks in upon the scene. A wild altercation ensues,
and only the friends of the Governor and the Judge pre-
vent them from flying at each other's throats. It is at
this point that Sevier forgets himself and makes the
slurring reference to Mrs. Jackson.

Judge Jackson rushes to the tavern and indites a sting-
ing letter to the Governor :

**The ungentlemanly expressions, and gasgonading con-
duct of yours," he writes, ''relative to me was in true
character of yourself, and unmasks you to the world, and
plainly shews that they were the ebulitions of a base mind
goaded with stubborn proof of fraud (refers to the land
case), and flowing from a source devoid of every delicate
and refined sensation. But sir, the voice of the people

Ii8

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE

has made you Governor, this alone makes you worthy of
my notice."

Jackson demands an interview with the Governor, con-
cluding, ''my friend and myself will be armed with pistols
— you cannot mistake me or my meaning."

Sevier replies that he will give Jackson ''satisfaction,"
but not in the State of Tennessee. This draws another
hot retort from the Judge, for the next day he writes :
"Did you take the name of a lady (Mrs. Jackson) into
your pollutted lips in Knoxville ? Did you challenge me to
draw, when you were armed with a cutlass and I with
a cane, and now sir, in the neighborhood of Knoxville
you shall atone for it or I will publish you as a coward
and a paltroon." Jackson says he refuses to travel to
Kentucky, Georgia, or North Carolina to blow the head
off the Governor of Tennessee. A paper war follows, and
finally it is agreed the belligerents shall meet for a duel
just beyond the state line. Judge Jackson is on the spot
at the appointed time, but he waits there two days, for
the Governor has not appeared.

The Judge gallops off toward Knoxville, determined
Sevier shall not evade him. On the road toward the town
he sees the Governor approaching, accompanied by a
cavalcade. Jackson sends one of his henchmen ahead with
a letter to Sevier recounting their differences. The Gov-
ernor refuses to receive the letter, and this rebuff angers
Jackson beyond all patience. He charges forth, like the
knights of old, leveling his cane as if it were a javelin.
The Governor is amazed at this gesture and topples off
his horse. Jackson dismounts and draws his pistols, when

119

ANDREW JACKSON

friends of both men intervene, and the trouble is patched
up, or seemingly so; but the men will never be friends.
This nonsense impairs Judge Jackson's popularity in the
state.

While this racket has been In progress, the business of
the Supreme Court of Tennessee suspends, the legisla-
ture has recessed, and the sporting men of the community
have placed bets on the results of the duel. Meanwhile,
Judge Jackson has found time to write home to Rachel,
telling her nothing whatsoever of his encounter with
Governor Sevier. Instead, he says he is sending her a
package of garden seed. Also, he expresses the wish that
his slave * 'Aston has been brought to a perfect state of
obedience." He hopes that ''happiness will surround" his
Rachel "until I have the pleasure of seeing you."

A little later Judge Jackson quarrels with his old
friend Judge McNairy because the Judge has found it
necessary to remove General Robertson from the Chick-
asaw Agency, which lost their mutual friend, Searcy, his
post as clerk in the agency. Neither man quite loses his
temper over this matter, but their friendship cools.

4
Thomas Jefferson had come in as President of the
United States, succeeding John Adams, who was greatly
surprised and chagrined over his failure to obtain re-
election. In fact, Adams was so hurt that he refused to
attend Jefferson's inauguration, and rode away from
Philadelphia in a coach, to sulk in Massachusetts. Jef-
ferson was the first President to be inaugurated in Wash-
ington. His election, also, marked the beginning of the

1 20

A JUDGE ON THE RAMPAGE

end of the Federalist Party, and the launching of the
Democratic Party, of which he was the founder.

Jefferson was an expansionist. In 1803 the purchase of
Louisiana was effected, and Jackson hoped he might re-
ceive from President Jefferson the appointment as Gov-
ernor of that Territory. In fact, this post, which was
perhaps the only one that Jackson really coveted and
sought, was particularly desired by him at this time be-
cause he had grown weary of the bench, riding the cir-
cuit, and all the fol-de-rol that a judgeship entailed even
in those backwoods days. But the appointment went to
W. C. C. Claiborne, and Judge Jackson's estimate of
Thomas Jefferson declined in proportion to his disap-
pointment.

The truth of the matter is, Jefferson feared to appoint
Jackson to the post. He had known him in the Senate, and
although the President admired the tall man from Ten-
nessee for certain striking qualities that are concomitant
w^ith clean and robust manhood, he felt he could not trust
him with a mission that required tact and infinite patience,
neither of which Jackson possessed.

However, on July 24, 1804, Judge Jackson presents
his resignation to the legislature and it is accepted. At
least one signal honor has been done his name. In the
Cumberland region a new county had been named Jack-
son. There will be innumerable cities, towns, counties
and streets named for Jackson when the white men really
get their stride.

121

Chapter X
THE FRONTIER STOREKEEPER

GENERAL JACKSON believes he is through with
official and public life, barring such future en-
counters as may be necessary to keep the Indians from
encroaching upon the Tennessee side of the Cherokee
boundary. As he will continue to be Major General of
the State Militia, any need for troops to preserve order
in the state, or for purposes of intervention in Indian
territory, naturally will issue from his command. Four
months before he presented his resignation as Judge, he
hinted to Rachel his desire to retire from the bench :

Knoxville, April 6, 1804.
My Love : I have this moment reed, your letter of the
24th of March, and what sincere regret it gives me on
the one hand to view your distress of mind, and what
real pleasure it would afford me on the other to return
to your arms dispel those clouds that hover around you
and retire to some peaceful grove to spend our days in
solitude and domestic quiet ... I have wrote you every
post since I left you and will continue to do so until I
leave Philadelphia, should I go that far. I am compelled
to quit writing. I am sent for to court. I shall write you

122

THE FRONTIER STORE KEEPER

fully before I leave this place, and may all the ruling
power give you health and Peace of Mind untill I am
restored to your arms is the sincere supplication of your
unalterable

Andrew Jackson.

General Jackson has discovered that his four excur-
sions into public pursuits thus far — Federal Attorney
General for the Southwestern Territory, Representative
in Congress from Tennessee, United States Senator, and
Judge of the State Supreme Court — all have tended to
convince him that his forte lies not in the realm of legis-
lative or civil administrative activities. He is primarily
a military man who possesses sufficient political convic-
tions to give direction and purpose to his soldierly at-
tributes. But since there are no wars to be fought, and
as the Indians are quiescent for the present. General Jack-
son turns his attention to commerce. And he has much
need of doing so, for during the six years that he has
been a Judge his private affairs have been going from bad
to worse. In fact, the condition of his estate was per-
haps the biggest factor in his retirement from the bench.

In 1798, while still holding his seat as Senator, Jack-
son apparently looked forward to a business career in
Nashville. In that year he sold to David Allison, a rich
Philadelphian, who desired to invest in the golden promise
of the West, thousands of his own acres for six thousand
six hundred and seventy-six dollars. Allison, it may be
supposed, purchased the land purely for speculation. He
expected to sell it again in small parcels to the settlers at
a profit, of course. Allison paid for the land in three

123

ANDREW JACKSON

promissory notes. So high a standing did Allison have,
that Jackson was able to buy with these ''gilt-edged" notes
in Philadelphia a supply of goods suitable for the set-
tlements on the Cumberland. He shipped his stock in
wagons to Pittsburgh, by flat-boat down the Ohio River
to Louisville, and again by wagons to Nashville. Then he
resigned his seat, expecting to return home and become
a trader. But instead, he was elected to the Supreme Court.

Jackson thereupon formed a partnership with John
Hutchings and John Coffee, both of whom were, or about
to be, related to him by marriage. He expected his part-
ners to run the business, and he w^ould give it occasional
attention in the recesses between the terms of court.

Jackson was scarcely back in Nashville in 1798 when
news reached him that Allison had been caught in the
panic which then was sweeping over the country. Jack-
son's creditors, from whom he had purchased his goods
for a general store, held the notes, indorsed by Jackson,
against him. He lived then upon a plantation called
Hunter's Hill, thirteen miles from Nashville, and two
miles from the Hermitage that w^ould be built later. He
had built a store on Hunter's Hill, and it had prospered
after a fashion, prior to the crash. There was one nar-
row window in the store from which he sold goods to
the Indians, who were excluded from the interior be-
cause of what the traders called their thieving propensi-
ties.

The sums that Jackson owned to Philadelphia creditors
on Allison's notes had to be paid in real money. To do
this, he sold thirty-three thousand more acres of land at

124

THE FRONTIER STORE KEEPER
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

twenty-five cents an acre, and managed to pay off everv
cent of his indebtedness as the notes came due. His ex-
perience, bitter as it was, which would greatly reduce his
financial strength, would be used by him later on — al-
though he did not know it then — in smashing the Second
Bank of the United States. This was the genesis of
Jackson's war against the Bank — a war in which he
would emerge the victor, and which would revolutionize
the currency system of the United States. But of this —
more later.

Jackson's fine estate on Hunter's Hill was absorbed
in the crash, but he was not a man to haggle over his
losses. He closed out the store, sold many of his slaves
for debts, and moved to a smaller plantation eight miles
from Nashville. This ground was unimproved, but Jack-
son, though impoverished and in debt, succeeded in put-
ting the farm in excellent condition. Upon Hunter's Hill
he had built a fine frame house. It was one of the first
dwellings in the region not built of logs. In the crash, he
had to sacrifice this, and go back to a log cabin in which
he and Rachel had begun their lives together on the
frontier.

During the six years he was on the bench Rachel at-
tended to the farm and managed the slaves. She was im-
mensely competent in such matters; but her lord, for all
his fondness for the race track and the cock-pit, also was
a capable manager, especially in larger affairs. The place
where he was living in 1804, when he retired from the

125

ANDREW JACKSON

bench, was the Hermitage. It would be his home for the
rest of his life and was destined to become one of the
famous shrines in America.

So, as Jefferson is about to begin his second term as
President, Jackson, having laid aside his judicial robes,
is about to open his second general store on the frontier
of Tennessee. He is determined that this one shall be suc-
cessful. Coffee and Hutchings are again his partners —
General Jackson is notorious for finding jobs for his
wife's numerous relatives — and they open a fair-sized
store at Clover Bottom, four miles from the Hermitage
and seven from Nashville. Every day. General Jackson
mounts his horse and goes to business, leaving Rachel
to superintend the farm and the slaves. And Andrew
Jackson is a progressive farmer. He owns one of the
first cotton gins brought into Davidson County. It was
an innovation, for Eli Whitney, of Connecticut, had in-
vented it only as recently as 1793.

Under his watchful eye the store at Clover Bottom
does fairly well, and in a short while he opens a branch
store at Gallatin, in Sumner County, twenty-six miles
from Nashville. It seems to have been Jackson's idea to
open a third store, with each of his partners as the mana-
ger of one of them. Thus, the scheme of chain stores,
monopolizing the trade in standardized products, is con-
sidered a possibility a century before Woolworth.

The firm of Jackson, Coffee & Hutchings deal in dry
goods, salt, grindstones, hardware, gunpowder, whisky
and miscellaneous products. The payment they receive for
these commodities is not money — for real money is ex-
tremely scarce in the West — but cotton, ginned and un-

126

THE FRONTIER STORE KEEPER

ginned, wheat, corn, tobacco, pork and skins. This prod-
uce is sent in flatboats down to Natchez where it is sold
for the market in New Orleans. The Jackson firm, which
is established on a branch of the Cumberland River, also
builds boats for other traders. In addition to this. General
Jackson makes horse flesh a source of profit, as well as
human flesh, for he deals in slaves frequently.

There is his record, dated January 17, 1801, showing
certain expenditures:

To one Negro Wench named Fancy .... $280.00
To two Negroe weaman Betty & Hanah. . 550.00
To Merchandize from John Anderson.. 15.18%
To Cash Pd Taylor for making Coat. ... 3.00

$848. 1 8K

General Jackson has never considered the question of
whether slavery is right or wrong. He accepts the in-
stitution as he found it. There does not occur a word in
his voluminous letters to suggest that he ever gave a
thought to the moral side of the system. There is plenty
of evidence that Jackson is a thoughtful, patient, even
indulgent, master. His slaves are fond of him, and there
arises a great howl among them when rumor comes that
some are to be sold. They would rather stay right here
with Massah Jackson. Even his overseers complain oc-
casionally that there is laxity of discipline on the estate
due to the master's indulgence. But he pays no heed to

127

ANDREW JACKSON

these complaints. He knows, and so do the slaves know,
that when he wants something done they will do it will-
ingly and as well as they can. They love him, and when
the time comes for him to die, one hundred and fifty
black people, his bond servants, will set up a chorus of
weeping and wailing.

General Jackson is a kind, courteous and tender man
to those who do his bidding, knuckle under, and be-
lieve wholly and sincerely that he is unfailingly right. To
those who believe thus and manifest their belief, he is
all gentleness. Toward those who oppose him he is re-
lentless and ruthless.

Jackson's credit is high in the community. His name
signed to paper is as good as money anywhere in Ten-
nessee, and beyond. All know he is scrupulously honest,
that he would not take advantage of any man for any
reason. He sells his goods at prices current, no more
and no less.

*'I will give or take so much," he says. "If you will
trade, say so and have done with it; if not, let it alone.''
He abominates paper money because he regards it in
the light of a promise to pay. He will promise nothing,
law or no law, that he thinks is unjust, or which he can-
not meet.

Still, the store does not appear to be profitable. The
firm has made a number of bad debts. In addition, as
there is no mail between Nashville and the lower Missis-
sippi country to guide them, the Jackson firm has fre-
quently shipped products to New Orleans and found the
market glutted. Another factor is the high cost of bring-

128

THE FRONTIER STORE KEEPER

ing goods from New York and Philadelphia to the Cum-
berland. The shipping charges narrow the margin of
profit so greatly that there is small use of handling cer-
tain kinds of goods even if they can be obtained. Prices
on the Cumberland are about three times those in Phila-
delphia. Combine all this with the fact that the Cumber-
land people are mostly "land poor," that real money is
virtually unknown in Tennessee in 1805, and there exists
plenty of reason why General Jackson should grow tired
of being a tradesman.

After a few years more of this, he will sell out his
interest in the business to his partners. He will take notes
from his partner, John Coffee, payable at long intervals,
for his share. Then Coffee will marry a niece of Rachel
Jackson, and on their wedding day General Jackson will
go to his strong box, take out Coffee's notes, tear them
in halves and present them to the bride, with a gracious
bow — and General Jackson can bow magnificently to the
ladies.

Throughout these store-keeping days, Jackson by no
means neglects the race track, the cock -pit, or the taverns.
Cards are played wherever two men find themselves to-
gether with nothing to do. To cheat at these games, or
in the betting, is tantamount to the offender committing
suicide. Most any Saturday afternoon General Jackson
can be found at the cock-pit. He is a little hilarious, but
never drunk. His courtliness and an innate sense of re-
finement never desert him. In the East they will call him
a brawler, but on the frontier General Jackson is a gen-
tleman — and the frontier, with its taverns, its race track

129

ANDREW JACKSON

and its cock-pit, knows a gentleman when it sees him. No
matter what else the backwoods may deal in, it breeds
real men. None others can survive its ordeals and its guns.

The American nation was born with the highest of
hopes. Its founders had written a political Lord's prayer
and then proceeded to batter down whatever stood as an
obstacle to their ideology. It was not only Cornwallis
that had surrendered at Yorktown, but the political de-
mons of the world had capitulated before the strong arm
and stout heart of High Purpose, which was thought to
be given exclusively to Americans, who translated it into
the Declaration of Independence. Our victory started us
off with just a little swagger. The War for Independence
introduced among the people of early America — people
of simple rustic minds and customs — the practice of
resorting to arms for the settlement of disputes. Virtually
every boy and man who participated in that conflict af-
fected the tone and title of a soldier thenceforth. They
were excessively sensitive in the matter of personal rights,
and invoked what they called the Code of Honor at every
little whip-stitch.

Each hugged to himself the delusion that he was the
personal custodian of the Declaration and the Constitu-
tion. Also, that he must uphold and assert his personal
Code of Honor by demanding "Satisfaction" from who-
soever impinges that Code. Hence a strong sense of in-
dividualism was created. It seems to be less apparent in
the second quarter of the Twentieth Century. But on the
frontier it was different. Everything seemed to be against

130

THE FRONTIER STORE KEEPER

civilization — Idleness, Indians, and Isolation; Whisky
and Wilderness.

Men took to dueling as a matter of course. It affirmed
their soldierly concepts; it exalted them as brave men
willing to die for the Code of Honor; it furnished a
tremendous amount of excitement in the days when the
people had no daily newspapers nor motion pictures with
which to stimulate their emotions; it also offered a mar-
velous display of sportsmanship for the participants. It
was the thing to do. It was the age of the gentle savage.

From 1790 to 1810 the people of the South and West
were given to dueling as nowhere else in the American
nation. As late as 1834, fifteen duels were fought in New
Orleans on a Sabbath morning. One hundred and two
were fought between January i and the end of April in
the same city. General William Henry Harrison reported
that there were more duels in the northwestern army
between 1791 and 1795, than ever took place in the same
length of time and amongst so small a body of men as
composed the commissioned officers of the army, either
in America or any other country.

General Jackson was one of the leading duelists of the
frontier. His personal encounters are said to have num-
bered well over a hundred. Now he is about to march
forth to a killing.

131

^^^?^v^^^5^5^5^^^v^^i^^^5^

Chapter XI
THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

IT is the Autumn of 1805, and the time has arrived
for one of the greatest horse races in Tennessee. The
turf, on Stone's River, at Clover Bottom, near Jackson's
store, is a beautiful circular field, boasting a mile course,
and with the requisite margin for spectators and their
vehicles. General Jackson well knows this course, as he
has patronized the races here for a number of years —
Spring and Fall — and has trained his own racing colts on
this turf. He is the owner of the most renowned horse
in the West, Truxton, which he brought home from Vir-
ginia.

Truxton is to be matched with another famous racer,
Plow Boy, owned by Captain Joseph Ervin. The stakes
are two thousand dollars, payable in notes on the day
of the race. The forfeit is eight hundred dollars. Six
persons are interested in this race particularly, three on
Jackson's side, and one on Captain Ervin's — his son-in-
law, Charles Dickinson. For miles around the backwoods-
men have prepared to come to Clover Bottom for the
turf event. Then suddenly, for reasons best known to
himself. Captain Ervin decides to pay the forfeit and call

132

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

off the race. The matter is settled amicably, so everyone
believes, and the affair is supposed to be at an end.

But Dickinson appears to have some special grudge
against Jackson. The reasons are not far to seek. Dickin-
son is younger than the General by four years; he is a
lawyer, who also speculates in horses, produce and slaves.
He has watched Jackson's career for a number of years,
and is jealous of the tall man's popularity in the state,
while he, Dickinson, is acknowledged as the best shot
in Tennessee. Still, he has won no honors at the hands of
the public who, aside from a coterie of gay blades like
Dickinson himself, scarcely know his name. Even Jackson
is but slightly acquainted with him. Those who know
Dickinson are aware that he is a wild, dissipated young
man, prone to trade somewhat upon his good looks and
the fact that he has a certain amount of culture in a com-
munity which has none. When drunk, he is given to
talking loosely about those whom he does not like. This
is his undoing.

After the matter of the called-off race is adjusted,
word reaches General Jackson's ears that Dickinson has
been around the taverns maligning Jackson as an ''adul-
terer." At the same time he casts serious aspersions upon
the character of Mrs. Jackson, sneers, takes another drink
and laughs boisterously. But those within earshot of
Dickinson do not laugh. They only wonder if he is still
the crack marksman of Tennessee, for they opine he may
have need of being quick on the trigger when General
Jackson hears of this, as he most assuredly will.

The General loses no time in checking up this report.
He goes straight to Dickinson and accuses him. Dickinson

133

ANDREW JACKSON

is apologetic, and declares that if he said such things he
must have been drunk, and Jackson, knowing the young
lawyer's character by this time, perceives that a man
might be loose-tongued at a tavern bar and say dangerous
words carelessly. The General stares grimly in the eyes of
Dickinson, who deep down within himself winces. But
the apologies and denials are accepted and the men part.
There is bad blood between them. Dickinson has com-
mitted the unpardonable sin. He has spoken the word
''Adultery" and applied it to Andrew Jackson and his
wife. Still, maybe he was only drunk. None can say that
Dickinson is malicious, or is given wantonly to injure
the feelings of others. Indeed, his reputation is quite the
contrary. He is a brave young man, civil and courteous,
with excellent family connections — far more cultured
than Jackson's — and in polite society would carry off
the palm as a gentleman.

All goes well, or seemingly so. Late in December a
tattler again brings word to Jackson that in a tavern at
Nashville, Dickinson, deep in his cups, repeated the word
beginning with the ''scarlet letter," referring it to Jack-
son and his wife. Now this is too much! It must be ad-
mitted that the General is exhibiting great restraint. Ear-
lier in his life, and not so long ago either, he would have
had Dickinson on the firing line at the first breath of
insult. But the years are beginning to drape the General's
shoulders — he is nearly forty — and Rachel's pious in-
fluence no doubt is having some effect upon him, how-
ever slight.

General Jackson this time proceeds to the home of Cap-
tain Ervin, and advises him to exert his influence over

134

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

his son-in-law so that there shall be an end to Dickinson's
loose talk.

"I wish no quarrel with him," declares Jackson. "He is
being used by my enemies in Nashville to pick a quarrel
with me. Advise him to stop in time." Ervin knows the
General's character better than Dickinson, and he car-
ries Jackson's warning to the wild young man, who laughs
it off.

General Jackson is thoroughly aroused. He has come
to regard Dickinson as a mortal enemy — a man, ap-
parently, to whom it is impossible to teach good manners
by persuasion and example. He is determined to keep this
ugly affair from the ears of Rachel. To inform her of
it would only wound her and bring back painful mem-
ories of her few early years with the dour Robards. In
the evenings when they are together he listens to her
reading snatches from the Bible — sometimes it is a
whole chapter of Revelations — and he tries to convince
himself that he is all rapt attention; but his thoughts
stride quickly from the Scriptures during her pauses to
his pistols, and the sneering countenance of Dickinson
somehow is framed by the flames that lick the great logs
in the open grate before them.

In connection with this. General Jackson cannot erase
from his mind the report that Dickinson is the best shot
in Tennessee. Should he ever have to face him, he will
meet more than his equal as a marksman. General Jack-
son himself is quite a good shot. Pistols are as familiar
to him as canes. Well, any day may bring this matter to

135

ANDREW JACKSON

a climax, and the General feels he shall need a clear head
and steady arm. He begins to prepare for whatever may
be in store by taking a pledge to abstain from drinking
hard liquor:

"j^^u^^y 24, 1806

"General Andrew Jackson and Major John Verrell
covenant each with the other, that the first of them that
is known to drink ardent spirits except administered by
a physician, is to pay, the other a full and compleat suit
of clothes, Taylor's bill inclusive, this 24th day of Janu-
ary, 1806.
Test John Coffee."

A short time after Jackson takes the pledge (which
will not for long bind him too strictly to the drinking
only of water) he encounters Thomas Swann, recently
arrived in Tennessee from Virginia. He is a very young
man, already of the legal profession, who immediately
falls into the companionship of Dickinson. Being a Vir-
ginian, Swann quite naturally looks upon all westerners
in much the same way as Robinson Crusoe might have
regarded his man Friday. They were a herd of baboons,
to be soothed or suppressed as the occasion might de-
mand. So thought Mr. Swann, the upstart from Vir-
ginia. It appears that Dickinson, by dropping a word here
and there, has communicated to Swann his dislike of
Jackson, and this is sufficient to convince Swann that the
General need not be taken too seriously. A controversy,
in which Swann is made to take a leading part — prob-
ably at the bidding of Dickinson — immediately arises in

136

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER
^^^^^^^^^^^^^£^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

connection with the character of the notes of forfeiture
that Captain Ervin has turned over to General Jackson.

A report is out that the notes tendered were not those
specified in the original agreement. Swann takes it upon
himself to ask Jackson if the report about the notes is
true. He returns to Dickinson and quotes Jackson as re-
plying in the affirmative. Thereupon, Dickinson goes to
Jackson and asks him if the report that Swann has
brought is true, and the General replies that the author
of it is "a damned liar." Swann, in a letter to Jackson,
complains that the ''harshness of this expression has
deeply wounded" his feelings, and he challenges Jackson
to a duel. But Jackson meets young Mr. Swann in a
tavern at Nashville and canes him instead. He will not
waste his shooting arm on one who is merely a pawn of
Dickinson's. Swann's behavior toward General Jackson
is like that of a poodle snapping at a wolf. The wolf,
looking for bigger game, merely slaps the poodle and
brushes it aside.

But Jackson supplements his caning of Swann with a
letter to the Virginian in which he pays his compliments
to Dickinson. He writes:

''Let me, sir, observe one thing : that I never wantonly
sport with the feelings of innocence, nor am I ever awed
into measures. If incautiously I inflict a wound, I al-
ways hasten to remove it; if offence is taken where none
is offered or intended, it gives me no pain . . . When
the conversation dropt between mr. Dickinson and my-
self, I thought it was at an end. As he wishes to blow
the coal, I am ready to light it to a blaze, that it may be

137

ANDREW JACKSON

consumed at once, and finally extinguished. I request you
to show him this. I set out this morning for Southwest
Point. Be assured I hold myself answerable for any of
my conduct, and should any thing herein contained give
mr. Dickinson the spleen, I will furnish him with an
anodine as soon as I return."

In this same letter, Jackson refers to Dickinson as "a
base poltroon and a cowardly tale-bearer."

Swann exhibits Jackson's letter to Dickinson, and a
few days later Dickinson replies to Jackson in a manner
that makes a duel between them inevitable.

''As to the word, coward/' Dickinson writes, *1 think
it is as applicable to yourself as any one I know, and I
shall be very glad when an opportunity serves to know
in what manner you give your anodines, and hope you
will take in payment one of my most moderate ca-
thartics."

Having said so much, Dickinson departs on a flat-
boat for a voyage to New Orleans. When Jackson re-
ceived this challenge Dickinson was many miles beyond
hope of receiving the General's reply. And all the time
Dickinson was away he embraced every idle moment in
target practice.

With Dickinson out of the way, Swann proceeds to
air his grievance against Jackson in the columns of the
"Impartial Review and Cumberland Repository," the
editor of which, Thomas Eastin, is related to Jackson by
marriage. This paper-war continues for several months

138

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

and the natives are duly amused by the constant rehashing
of the charges and counter-charges involved in the mat-
ter which, in sum, is ridiculous, barring Dickinson's re-
peated charge of adultery against Jackson and his wife.
This is really the root of the matter and keeps the pot
boiling. Meanwhile, two excited young men, each a vio-
lent partisan of the major participants in the contro-
versy — Jackson and Dickinson — are drawn into a duel.
It is merely one of the preliminaries of the principal bout.

Dickinson, greatly refreshed by his stay in New Or-
leans and the leisurely voyage up the Mississippi, re-
turns to Nashville on May 20, 1806. He is still satisfied
that he is the best shot in Tennessee, so two days later
he writes a long and vitriolic attack on General Jackson
and hands it to Editor Eastin who, since he publishes an
''Impartial Review/' is bound to print the communication.

In his letter to the editor, Dickinson writes : "Should
Andrew Jackson have intended these epithets for me, I
declare him, notwithstanding he is a Major General of
the militia of the Mero District, to be a worthless scoun-
drel, 'a. poltroon and a coward' — a man, who by frivolous
and evasive pretexts, avoided giving the satisfaction which
was due to a gentleman whom he had injured ... I
am well convinced he is too great a coward to administer
any of those anodines he promised me in his letter to Mr.
Swann."

Jackson, informed in advance that this letter was to
appear, mounts his horse and dashes off to the editor's
office to read it for himself. One glance at the letter con-
vinces him that the die is cast. It shall be a duel to the
death !

139

ANDREW JACKSON

The same day Jackson's sends a challenge to Dickin-
son, and the same day it is accepted. The seconds — Gen-
eral Thomas Overton for Jackson and Dr. Hanson Catlet
for Dickinson — draw up an agreement in writing:

**On Friday, the 30th instant, we agree to meet at
Harrison's Mills on Red River, in Logan County, State
of Kentucky, for the purpose of settling an affair of
honor between General Andrew Jackson and Charles
Dickinson, Esq. It is understood that the meeting will
be at the hour of seven in the morning."

When Jackson hears the duel is postponed for a week,
he is beside himself with rage. Why the delay? he de-
mands of Overton. Promptly a note is dispatched to
Dickinson urging the duel at once. Word is returned by
Dr. Catlet that the delay is essential because Dickinson
must obtain the proper pistol. Off goes a second appeal
from Jackson's quarters. He offers Dickinson the choice
of his own pistols and swears he will use the one dis-
carded by his adversary. General Andrew Jackson is im-
patient for the killing — whosoever the victim is to be.

The seconds meet again a few days before the duel and
agree upon the following conditions of the combat : 'Tt is
agreed that the distance shall be twenty-four feet; the
parties to stand facing each other, with their pistols down
perpendicularly. When they are ready, the single word.
Fire, to be given ; at which they are to fire as soon as they
please. Should either fire before the word is given, we
pledge ourselves to shoot him down instantly. The person
to give the word to be determined by lot, as also the choice

140

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

of position. We mutually agree that the above regulations
shall be observed in the affair of honor depending between
General Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson, Esq."
Every one on the Cumberland knows the duel is to take
place, but only those directly concerned know where and
when. Every day men dismount in front of the editor's
office and inquire about the duel. Throughout the state,
betting is laid upon the results, and the odds are against
Jackson. Dickinson bets five hundred dollars he will topple
his adversary at the first shot. Jackson puts up not a cent.
An ancient doom could not be more grim than is the Gen-
eral. He does not flourish his confidence, but he has plenty
of it.

The dawn of the day before the duel finds each man up
and creeping stealthily about his house. He is going to a
killing. Jackson tells Rachel he has business in Kentucky
and will return in tw^o days. Rachel does not question Jack-
son about his business, now or at any other time. Nor does
he ever question her too closely. They take each other for
granted. It is enough. Dickinson steals from the side of
his beautiful wife, kisses her with impressive tenderness
and says he has business across the Red River. The Red
River !

A cavalcade of gay Tennessee dogs follows the dashing
Dickinson. They make of it an interlude of frolic between
lengthy periods of backwoods monotony. It is a long
day's ride to the rendezvous, and when they stop for
refreshment at taverns en route Dickinson entertains his
admirers with specimens of his marksmanship. Four times

141

ANDREW JACKSON

he puts a bullet in a target the size of a half dollar at a
distance of twenty-four feet. He can not miss. Along the
road Dickinson sees an object suspended by a string tied
to a limb of a tree. He is thirty feet from it; he reins in
his horse, levels his pistol and fires. The string snaps. He
laughs gayly. ''When General Jackson passes this way
show him that/' he calls to an overseer going into the
fields.

There is none of this hilarity in the Jackson party. The
tall man is discussing earnestly with General Overton the
affair at hand. They decide that Dickinson shall have
the chance of firing first since, like all crack marksmen, he
does not require time to take correct aim. Jackson has
made up his mind he will be hit, but he does not want the
effect of his bullet destroyed by having to fire too quickly.
'T shall hit him even if he shoots me through the brain,"
the General says slowly and solemnly to Overton.

After a day's riding both parties, who have chosen
different routes as far as possible, come to the taverns
where they stop for the night. Dickinson and his party
make merry. There is much drinking and card playing,
with Dickinson as a spectator of all this. He revels in the
thought that it is all in his honor. The young blades are
sure that before another day has passed they shall ac-
company back to Nashville the conqueror of Andrew Jack-
son. In the woods, and around the stores and public build-
ings in Nashville and elsewhere on the Cumberland, Jack-
son's friends, who are many, are both praying and betting
for the General to win. They, too, think he cannot miss.
Rachel knows nothing of all this.

Jackson's grimness has trailed off into pleasantries. He

142

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

eats heartily at supper and converses gayly with his
friends. In the evening he smokes his pipe as usual, and re-
tires early.

It is a warm May morning. The sun has sprinkled jewels
over the fields of Kentucky which the slaves grind into
the yielding earth. They hear the rhythmic beat of horses'
hoofs on the road that runs toward the river, and they un-
bend their backs to see if this can be their master coming
to lash them into greater effort. They see a tall man with
a great crop of tousled hair turning gray conversing with
another man galloping by his side. The tall man's cape
flutters in the breeze of the May morning. The slaves bend
to their tasks as the overseer strides among them.

The horsemen ride a mile along the river, then turn
sharply toward it. There is no ferryman to take them
across. Andrew Jackson plunges his horse into the river,
Overton following him. Dickinson and his party have
preceded them on the ferry. It seems as if things are going
Dickinson's way, Overton thinks. Jackson gallops on to-
ward the appointed place and dismounts. All the courtesies
of gentlemen on a field of honor are duly observed. This
is no common bar-room brawl so familiar to General
Jackson and his adversary. French duelists might learn
some points of civility from these gentle savages of Ten-
nessee come for a killing.

Some one nudges Jackson and inquires how he feels

now. ''All right," the General replies. 'T shall wing him,

never fear." Overton wins the lot of giving the word,

"Fire," and Dickinson's second wins the choice of posi-

143

ANDREW JACKSON

tion. The paces are measured and the duelists are placed.
Both men are utterly collected and composed. They are hat-
less. The wind sifts through the tall man's hair. His face
is stern, his jaws set, but there is no pent up fury in his
deep blue eyes. He is cautious and serene, qualities that
have marked him and shall mark him in every great crisis.

A long frock coat with cape attached covers his slender
and erect figure. It is folded loosely about him, for the
purpose of deceiving Dickinson who will aim straight at
Jackson's heart. The moment is tense as both men face
each other under the poplars.

''Are you ready?" Overton's strident voice echoes
through the forest.

'T am ready," replies Dickinson.

'T am ready," replies Jackson.

The words are still warm on their lips when Overton
shouts, 'Tire!"

A curl of dust flies from Jackson's coat. He raises his
left arm and clutches tightly at his breast.

The smile of triumph flits over Dickinson's face and as
quickly freezes as he sees Jackson, who has not wavered
nor budged an inch, slowly raise his pistol.

"Great God! Have I missed him!" moans Dickinson,
astonished that the tall man does not topple.

"Back to the mark!" shouts Overton, grasping his own
pistol. Dickinson steps to the peg and turns his head from
the deadly gaze of Jackson. Dickinson swoons in his soul,
but his body is erect, firm and commanding.

Andrew Jackson takes deliberate aim. He snaps the
trigger. The pistol does not explode. It is at half cock.
He pulls back the trigger and takes a second aim. Dickin-

144

THE KILLING ON RED RIVER

son topples. The blood gushes from his wounds for the
ball has passed through his body. His seconds and friends
carry him away.

One of Jackson's shoes is full of blood. ''My God ! Are
you hit?" asks Overton. "Oh, I believe he has pinked me
a little," says Jackson.

Dickinson's bullet had gone straight to where he sup-
posed was Jackson's heart, but the General's loose coat had
deceived him. The bullet broke two of Jackson's ribs and
raked his breastbone. It was a painful, ragged wound;
but Jackson mounts his horse and gallops off to the tavern
where he had passed the previous night.

His surgeon dresses his wound, and when this is done,
Jackson sends a note to Dickinson's friends, who have ar-
rived with the wounded man at a tavern near-by, stating
that the surgeon attending himself will be glad to minister
to the needs of Dickinson. Word is returned that Dickin-
son is past the need for surgery. During the day Jackson
dispatches a bottle of wine to Dr. Catlet for his patient.

Dickinson bleeds to death. His last words are a curse
that he had failed to kill Andrew Jackson.

In Nashville the results of the duel create a profound
sensation. Large amounts of money bet on the outcome
change hands over the tavern bars.

Dickinson was popular in Nashville and on the Cumber-
land. His friends draft a memorial and take it to Mr.
Eastin, requesting him to publish it in the "Impartial
Review." They also prevail upon the editor to drape his
paper in mourning by reversing the column rules for one

145

ANDREW JACKSON

issue. Jackson hears of this, as he hears of everything. He
rises from his couch at the Hermitage, and Rachel brings
him ink and paper. He sends a letter to the editor demand-
ing that the names of those who subscribe to the memorial
be published along with the eulogy.

Eastin publishes Jackson's letter in the next issue, and
twenty-six citizens file into his office and erase their names
from the memorial to Dickinson. They consider it risky
business to affront the conqueror of the crack shot of
Tennessee.

General Jackson will never boast of this affair. He will
never speak of it to his friends. A section of the population
of Tennessee believe him to be a cold-blooded murderer.
But these are the friends of Dickinson. A larger number
believe he was eminently justified in dispatching the man
who talked too loosely about adultery.

146

Chapter XII
JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

NAPOLEON'S conquests produce a profound sensa-
tion in America, especially in the West, where
great admiration was felt for the little Corsican. In no
country outside of the continent of Europe were the
people so deeply stirred as the Americans. Westerners
believed Napoleon would conquer the world, and America
might just as well be in at the Wake on his side. They
envisioned him as the liberator of mankind, but particu-
larly as the enemy of kings. These simple, rustic western
Americans did not see that Napoleon enthroned a puppet
king of his own choice for every monarch he toppled. In
one month — at the latest, two — England would be hum-
bled; and how these southwesterners despised England,
which still regarded the young republic as an impudent,
noisy brat in the family of nations.

Bonaparte's influence in America is seen clearly in the
number of persons who are adventuring in many direc-
tions. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary,
and William Clark, a young frontiersman, have explored
the continent from the Mississippi to the Far West and
the Pacific. Americans now have more than a shadowy

147

ANDREW JACKSON

idea of how far they may yet push the white man's
triumph. The Lewis and Clark Expedition marks a turn-
ing point on this continent.

In a Httle while (1807), Robert Fulton, a Scotch-
Irishman, will invent an odd looking boat propelled by
steam. That year he will launch his craft, the Clermont, off
the Battery, and it will glide serenely up the Hudson to
Albany, one hundred an(d fifty miles, making the trip in
thirty-two hours. People will line the water-front, many of
them betting the trick cannot be done, and the owners of
sail boats hoping as much. By 181 1 a steamboat will ap-
pear on the Ohio, and in the next year steamboats will
be making regular runs between Pittsburgh and New
Orleans. America is getting its stride.

There are, however, some instances where American
adventurers are merely buccaneers and swashbucklers.
These have imitated Napoleon's predilection for high
romance found in the conquest of uncharted lands and
alien peoples. They are in love with the notion of stalking
over the earth — even American earth — rattling their
swords and scarifying the natives.

Aaron Burr, a colonel in the War for Independence,
member of Congress from New York, Vice President of
the United States in Jefferson's first term, and in 1804
the killer of Alexander Hamilton in a duel on Weehawken
Heights, is a comic imitation of Napoleon at his worst.
But the West, particularly Tennessee, takes Burr seri-
ously; and Andrew Jackon, himself an ardent Bonapartist,
embraces the New Yorker and invites him to his hearth at
the Hermitage.

148

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

Jackson, while a member of Congress, had met Burr in
Philadelphia and was impressed with the courtly and suave
New Yorker. Also, it was Burr who championed Ten-
nessee's fight for admission into the Union, and the Cum-
berland would not soon forget that signal service. Burr,
an exile from New York because of his duel with Hamil-
ton, was the more welcome in the West, due to his having
murdered with a pistol the founder of the Bank of the
United States, which the West abominated. Moreover, the
fact that Burr was a duelist and a killer lent prestige, and
a certain social position, to the head-hunters of the West,
among whom Jackson ranks as one of the leaders.

In the Spring of 1805, Burr turned westward, and on
May 29 he visited the town of Nashville, which had be-
come one of the most prosperous of the western com-
munities. Nashville received the great Burr with joy and
eclat. People came from remote sections, isolated farms
and settlements, and not a few crossed a river or two to
pay their respects to the conqueror of Hamilton, and the
friend of Tennessee.

A great dinner is arranged for the noted visitor at the
best tavern. Nothing is wanting in pomp and ceremony.
General Jackson mounts his finest horse and gallops from
the Hermitage to Nashville to attend and pay honor to
Colonel Burr who, after the festivities, is the General's
guest for five days. At this meeting Jackson learns virtu-
ally nothing of Burr's plans or his purpose in the West.

On June 3, Burr departs. He is keeping a diary for

149

ANDREW JACKSON

the amusement of his beautiful daughter, Theodosia, who
would really like to be a princess some day. Theodosia is
by no means alone among American women in that wish.
In his diary, Burr writes that General Jackson has pro-
vided him with a boat, and he is about to navigate down
the Cumberland River on which "we expect to find our
boat, with which we intend to make a rapid voyage down
the Mississippi to Natchez and Orleans." On the Ohio
River, Burr meets General James Wilkinson, of the
United States Army, who is on his way to St. Louis.
Wilkinson supplies Burr with an elegant barge, sails,
colors, ten oars, a sergeant and ''ten able, faithful hands."

It appears that Burr had made a deliberate detour that
he might visit Nashville, renew his acquaintance with
Jackson and see the lay of the land in Tennessee and along
the upper Mississippi for his project. General Wilkinson
had risen from a Kentucky storekeeper to the army. He
was already suspected of having received bribes of gold
from the Spanish government of Florida. On August 6,
1805, Burr returned to Nashville and was again a guest
at the Hermitage. The Colonel, again writing to Theo-
dosia, expresses his admiration of General Jackson, whom
he describes as ''now a planter, a man of intelligence, and
one of those prompt, frank, ardent souls whom I love to
meet." He tells Theodosia he is having a new map of the
United States sent to her so that she might trace his
route through the wilderness.

The threat of war with Spain is in the air, especially
in the West. For twenty years there has existed ill-feeling
between the West and the Spanish governors over the
question of the right of the states to free access to the

150

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

Mississippi River. Jackson is in favor of war with Spain
to settle this question once and for all. President Jeffer-
son is trying to stave off the conflict through diplomacy
and at the same time pacify the West. This subject, it
may be supposed, was uppermost in the conversations
between Jackson and Burr. Finally, Colonel Burr quit
the Hermitage and returned to the East. Meanwhile,
General Jackson was being harassed by the Dickinson
episode, and fortunately Burr did not appear upon the
scene to complicate matters until after the fatal duel.

It is September, 1806. For three months the General
has been closely confined to his house, waiting for his
wound to heal. There are many times during this con-
valescence when he and Rachel speak openly of their wisli
that they might be permitted to pass the rest of their days
in peace and quiet. But the words are no sooner spoken
by Jackson than he thinks of the Spaniards, of their im-
pudence and insolence toward the western states during
all these years, and he becomes restive, eager for war that
he might help to drive them from the American con-
tinent. He will, but not yet. Not under the gentle Jefferson.

Burr has arrived. He brings with him his lovely daugh-
ter and leaves her on Blennerhassett Island. He never ex-
pects to return to the East again. If his plans mature, an
empire! Emperor Aaron! Princess Theodosia! Perhaps
the fond father would rather gratify his daughter's wish
to be a real Princess than that he should become an Em-
peror. Perhaps it is she who drives him into this shadowy
business.

151

ANDREW JACKSON

- ^A -». «. ~ »- «. -^ *.-•,« -•.«. -».«. .«.•. ,«.^ -».•. ,».«, -»,«, _».« -•».•.-•.«. -»,« >«.«.«.« -».• -«.« ,».« -»,•,

General Jackson loses no time in informing his closest
friends, who, with him, constitute the leading citizens of
Nashville, that Colonel Burr is back in town and at the
Hermitage. The important gentlemen trot over to pay
their respects, but there is something cool in their greet-
ing. Reports have reached the Cumberland that Colonel
Burr's designs are not in the interest of the United States.
In the East he is openly suspected of plotting a conspiracy
to conquer Mexico from Spain, seize the southwestern
territories of the United States and establish an empire, a
la Napoleon.

The East, unfriendly to Burr, believes most of these re-
ports, but the West takes them with many reservations.
Jackson has heard the rumors, and, to prove that he dis-
believes them, the General arranges a great ball in the
Colonel's honor. When all is ready and the guests are as-
sembled, many of them standing rigidly against the wall,
like mechanical dummies pasted onto the paper, the Colo-
nel and the General enter by a door at the end of the great
hall, and they bow most graciously to the right and to the
left as they parade the length of the room, arm in arm.
Jackson is in the resplendent uniform of a Major Gen-
eral, while Burr is attired in black silk and white lace
ruffles. None could believe that evil motives lurked in the
folds of that gorgeous lace, in the pockets of that
wondrous silk suit, or in the head of this cultured man.
For the first time in its history, Nashville, indeed the
whole state of Tennessee, really looked upon themselves
as being civilized. Did not the presence of Burr attest as
much?

The success of the famous ball serves to humble all

152

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

who are skeptical. People who had suspected him are ut-
terly ashamed. They whisper their apologies to each other.

Burr departs and a month passes. November comes.
Early in the month, Jackson, still interested in the store
at Clover Bottom, but not active in its management, re-
ceives an order from Burr for five large boats, such as are
used for descending the western rivers, and a quantity
of supplies. Three thousand five hundred dollars in Ken-
tucky bank notes accompany the order. The firm sets about
to fill the contract, and a friend of Jackson's, Patten
Anderson, is busy raising a company of men to go with
Burr down the river. Anderson enlists seventy-five men.
Anderson's expenses are paid out of the sum that Burr
has sent to Jackson. Does General Jackson suspect any-
thing? Not a thing. He thinks Burr is merely trying to as-
semble boats and supplies to found a colony somewhere
along the Mississippi, and be on hand should a war come
with Spain.

Jackson is ignorant of the fact that Burr has been com-
municating with General Wilkinson in cipher. Jackson
does not know that Burr has been sending his special
emissary, Samuel Swartwout, to Wilkinson's head-
quarters. On November lo, Jackson receives a visit from a
friend. What he learns from this man thoroughly arouses
him.

Burr means to divide the Union. He will seize New
Orleans and the bank. Then he will close the port. He will
conquer Mexico and unite the western part of the Union
to the conquered country. He will do this with the aid of
United States troops, headed by General Wilkinson, his
willing dupe. New Orleans shall be the capital of this em-

153

ANDREW JACKSON

pire and Aaron Burr its Emperor. Theodosia becomes a
Princess (in the dream) and her boy a Duke. It is lovely.

General Jackson loses not a minute in warning all and
sundry of what he has heard. If Burr is actually a traitor,
Jackson has aided and abetted his crime ; he has furnished
him with boats and supplies, and taken Burr's money in
payment for these trappings, and sent Anderson with
seventy-five men — all Cumberland boys — on the expedi-
tion.

General Andrew Jackson, walking delegate for the
Declaration of Independence, is himself skating on the thin
ice of treason — if Burr is a traitor. Off goes Jackson's let-
ter to his friend, Governor Claiborne, of the Orleans Ter-
ritory, warning him against Burr, and advising him to put
his town in a state of defence. ''Keep a watchful eye upon
Wilkinson," writes Jackson. ''I fear there is 'something
rotten in the state of Denmark.' "

Almost at the same time Jackson, eager to clear him-
self of any connection with Burr's project, writes to
President Jefferson offering the services of his division
of the state militia "in the event of insult or aggression
made on our government and country from any quarter."
Actually, Jackson does not yet know what Burr is up
to, nor does anyone else know. Burr himself probably
could not say.

On December 14, Burr, having been arrested and
acquitted in Kentucky on suspicion of conspiring against
the United States, returns to Nashville and the Her-
mitage, but Rachel Jackson, in the absence of the Gen-

154

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

eral, receives him coldly. Rachel is a thorough-going
patriot. The Colonel proceeds to Clover Bottom, stays at
a tavern, and there General Jackson confronts Burr
frankly v^^ith v^hat he has heard and demands the truth
from Burr. The New Yorker denies any unfriendly in-
tentions toward the government. Jackson is more in-
clined to believe Burr than to view him as a traitor.
Moreover, he refuses to condemn any man on rumor. He
demands proof. But he is also cautious, and he instructs
his partners to accept no more orders from Burr, but to
fulfill the contract already agreed upon.

On December 22, Burr and his followers depart from
Clover Bottom in two unarmed boats, built by the Jack-
son firm. Three more are specified in the contract, but
these are never called for. The party is bound, it seems,
for Blennerhassett Island where they will meet Burr's
flotilla. Then down the Mississippi to Natchez, where
General Wilkinson, of the United States Army, is sup-
posed to be waiting the arrival of the Emperor-to-be;
thence on to Texas, and the establishment of the throne.

Colonel Burr has scarcely climbed into his boats at
Clover Bottom and pushed down the river when a proc-
lamation from President Jefferson reaches Nashville, and
throws that region into a delirium of excitement. The
gracious Colonel is burnt in effigy in the public square.

On January i, 1807, General Jackson receives word
from the President and the Secretary of War, General
Henry Dearborn — a Revolutionary patriot — ordering him
to hold his command in readiness to march in pursuit of
the traitors. General Jackson is prompt to obey this com-
mand. In all directions his orders fly to his subordinate

155

ANDREW JACKSON

officers. The Revolutionary Veterans of Tennessee, all
over fifty years of age, tender their services to Jackson,
and in a perfervid patriotic outburst he accepts their
proffer.

Privately, however, Jackson still does not suspect Burr
of treason. The wish that Burr is innocent may be father
to Jackson's thought, for has not Jackson provided the ad-
venturer with boats and supplies ? Jackson suspects that
Burr is merely a victim of persecution because of his
killing of Hamilton. The western General has small use for
the effete East, anyway, and less use now for Jefferson's
Administration because it has refused to declare war
against Spain.

To his friend, Patten Anderson, Jackson writes that he
has received a letter from Secretary of War Dearborn.
'Tt is the merest old-woman letter from the Secretary
that you ever saw. . . . Wilkinson has denounced Burr
as a treator after he found that he was implicated. I have
it from the President that all volunteers will be grate-
fully accepted. . . . The Secretary of War is not fit for
a granny."

But at Washington, Jackson is suspected as a confeder-
ate of Burr, who, while in the East, dropped a word here
and there that he had the support of Tennessee and Gen-
eral Andrew Jackson. In a long letter to his friend, George
W. Campbell, Congressman from Tennessee, Jackson ex-
plains fully his relations with Burr, and concludes by say-
ing that he will ''pay his respects" to the Secretary of
War. He also writes again to Anderson, declaring that "by
the next mail I will instruct him (the Secretary of War)
in his duty and convince him that I know mine."

156

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

And Jackson loses no time in doing this, for, on January
8, the Major General of Militia delivers himself of this
broadside to the Secretary of War, a letter not calculated
to elevate Jackson in a military way, which he so much de-
sires at this time. An extract from his letter :

*'Col. B. received, sir, all that hospitality that a ban-
ished patriot from his home was entitled to. I then
thought him a patriot in exile for a cause that every man
of honor must regret, the violence with which he was
pursued, all his language to me covered with a love of
country, and obedience to the laws and your orders. Under
these declarations and after his acquittal by a respectable
grand jury of Kentucky, my suspicions of him vanished,
and I did furnish him with two boats, and had he wanted
two more on the same terms and under the same impres-
sions I then had he should have had them. But sir, when
prooff shews him to be a treator, I would cut his throat
with as much pleasure as I would cut yours on equal testi-
mony."

Jackson's hatred was for General Wilkinson, not for
Burr. He despised Wilkinson for his duplicity with Burr,
and was angered with President Jefferson for not pursu-
ing Wilkinson with the same energy that he tracked
Colonel Burr. It is also likely that Jackson covets Wilkin-
son's rank in the army. He would stop at little to undo
him.

But Burr finally surrenders and is taken to Richmond
for trial on the charge of treason. John Marshall, ele-

157

ANDREW JACKSON

vated to the Supreme Court of the United States by
President Adams as one of the last tributes Adams could
pay to the Federalist Party, is the presiding justice, while
the astute Henry Clay, of Kentucky, is counsel for Burr.
Wilkinson is state's witness against Burr. General Jack-
son is summoned to appear at Richmond as a witness, and
he mounts his steed and gallops eastward. It will take him
nearly two weeks to get there. Richmond stares at him.

Jackson is talking so loudly in defense of Burr that it
is decided not to put him on the witness stand. Nothing
daunted. General Jackson mounts the courthouse steps and
harangues a crowd for more than an hour. His discourse
is divided between a defense of Burr and a denunciation
of President Jefferson and his Cabinet, particularly the
Secretary of War. Jackson's conduct at Richmond angers
James Madison, Secretary of State, who is striving to keep
the country at peace.

It is not likely Jackson knew that his friend. Colonel
Burr, had asked the British Minister, Anthony Merry, for
the loan of half a million dollars, and a supporting squad-
ron of British ships at the mouth of the Mississippi. How-
ever, being unable to prove the *'overt act," the charge of
treason against Burr is finally reduced to a misdemeanor,
and he is acquitted. The whole affair has been made the
football of politics, but it will at least furnish the Rev.
Dr. Edward Everett Hale with a theme for his fiction,
'The Man Without a Country," many years later.

One incident immensely pleases Jackson, who now real-
izes he has been imposed upon. Certain streets of Rich-

158

JACKSON, BURR AND TREASON

mond are very narrow, and two fat men walking in
opposite directions would have difficulty in passing each
other. Samuel Swartwout, aide-de-camp and general
factotum to Colonel Burr, sights the portly General Wil-
kinson waddling down the street toward him. They collide,
and Swartwout gives the General a vigorous push with his
shoulder, sending the star witness against Burr sprawling
into the gutter. Jackson hears of this and doubles with
laughter.

Twenty years later this same Swartwout, who wormed
his way into Jackson's esteem by pushing Wilkinson into
the street, will be rewarded by President Jackson with the
place of Collector of Customs at the port of New York;
and Swartwout will evince his appreciation by looting the
government's coffers of a million and a quarter, which
he will spend at his leisure in Europe. The thievery will
produce a first class scandal and give the Jackson regime
a black eye, but it will be only a rehearsal of Tammany's
talents in that direction.

The clouds are gathering for a war with England.
Jefferson is determined to stave off the conflict during his
rule. Madison, slated to be the next President, will inherit
this tremendous burden. But in 1808, General Jackson will
throw his support to James Monroe.

Meanwhile, Andrew Jackson is home again, listening to
Rachel reading her Bible, and at the same time hoping
that a war with England will not be long deferred. 'T must
tell you," he writes to a friend at this time, "that Bona-
parte has destroyed the Prussian army. We ought to have
a little of the emperor's energy."

159

Chapter XIII
WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

FOR three years prior to 181 2 the country felt that a
second war with England was inevitable. Dating
from the Jay Treaty, affairs between the United States
and Great Britain had been drifting^ toward a collision
which the militant repubhcans of the South and West
declared openly could be settled only upon the battlefield.
President Jefferson had been able to maintain a policy
of neutrality in the affairs of war-torn Europe, but al-
most at the expense of wrecking his own Administration.
James Madison, Jefferson's Secretary of State, a man of
culture and disposed to embrace much of the Jeffersonian
political idealism and philosophic humanism, had fought
bravely to maintain America's integrity through diplo-
macy the while Napoleon flew across Europe like a bloody
meteor, erasing ancient boundaries, crushing the thrones
of impotent kingdoms and setting up vassal dynasties
obedient to his whims.

But the task harassed both Jefferson and Madison,
and in 1809 the sage of Monticello was happy to pass the
burden on to Madison, also a Virginian, and thus per-
petuate for a time the Virginia dynasty in American poli-

160

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

tics. Madison, however, was not a commanding figure
and the drift toward war became steadily apparent as the
months of his Administration passed. A long train of
abuses by England — ever impudent and insolent toward
the young republic in those early years — had all but
caused the country to become bankrupt by 18 12.

In Jefferson's Administration Congress had passed an
Embargo Act, forbidding American vessels to leave these
ports with goods for European shores. This was an at-
tempt to protect American merchantmen from seizures,
and American seamen from impressment by British naval
commanders. It was nearly a disastrous policy, for Amer-
ican products rotted in warehouses and on the docks;
merchants were driven into bankruptcy ; everywhere there
was unemployment; prices doubled and tripled; farmers
and planters of the South and the West had no market for
their cotton, rice, tobacco, corn and pork. To obey the
law was to face starvation ; to violate it by attempting to
smuggle goods into Spanish Florida and Canada, thence
to Europe, was to run the risk of encountering United
States agents. The law pleased none.

In the Summer of 1807, the American frigate, Chesa-
peake, was fired upon by the British warship. Leopard,
and three American seamen were killed and eighteen were
wounded. The Chesapeake had refused to surrender sailors
who the British claimed were deserters from King
George's navy. British and French ships patrolled the
American coast within the three mile limit, and the ships
of each nation harassed and searched American merchant-
men at will, the English commanders frequently seizing
both vessels and cargo. In 181 1 it was admitted in the

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ANDREW JACKSON

House of Commons that i,6oo American seamen had
been dragged from our ships and impressed into the
service of Great Britain.

In the Spring of 1811, a British frigate stopped an
American ship near New York harbor and took from on
board an apprentice serving master of the brig. This man,
John Diggio, was a native of Maine. The incident created
deep resentment in the country, particularly in the South
and West, where it was known that the several Indian
nations, notably the Creeks, were being stirred up against
the United States by British agents, and likewise Spanish
ones. Since Spain was an ally of Great Britain against
Napoleon, Spanish provinces in America because hotbeds
of intrigue against the United States. This was the con-
dition that the West and South had to face.

The expansionist movement, which began in the Jeffer-
son Administration with the purchase of Louisiana from
Napoleon, had created the fever for still more territory
as the population increased and its needs for land and
materials grew. The Indians stood in the way of this. The
Spanish provinces were in the way. England was in the
way, for England desired that the United States should
confine themselves East of the Mississippi. The West
looked upon England as the chief foe.

All along the frontier, pioneers were prepared for the
onward march into the West. Their cry was for land, for
the settlement of the continent by white men East of the
Mississippi, from its mouth to the gulf. The Indians

162

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

might remain in restricted reservations if they behaved
themselves ; if not, they were to be shunted further v^est-
ward into uncharted lands. The Indians heard this cry
and understood its meaning. They turned to Great Britain
for help — and received it.

There v^ere many leaders in the country who believed
that if a war with England should come it would be just
as well for the United States to annex Canada. Henry
Clay, of Kentucky, was one of these. *Ts it nothing for
us to extinguish the torch that lights up savage warfare?"
he asked. *Ts it nothing to acquire the entire fur trade
connected with that country and to destroy the temptation
and opportunity of violating your revenue and other
laws?"

Several years before 181 2, the great Tecumseh, and
his brother, the Prophet, both aided by the British, set
about to unite all the Indian tribes of the northwest and
the southwest into one great confederacy for a war
against the United States. In 181 1, Tecumseh appeared
at a council of the Creek Indian nation, in the old town of
Tuckaubatchee, on the upper Tallapoosa, in Alabama,
and made an effective plea for a union of all the Red
men against the extension of the white settlements. The
eloquence of this remarkable chief fired the heart of the
young braves of the Creek nation, and they were resolved
from that moment to resist the advance of the white man.
But the Creek war was not to begin just yet.

In the northwest, — Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky —
there v/as much alarm felt among the whites because of
the Indian depredations. The Reds were becoming bolder.

163

ANDREW JACKSON

General William Henry Harrison, territorial governor of
Indiana, moved suddenly against the tribes and dealt them
a severe blow at the battle of Tippecanoe.

General Jackson was watching these events. In No-
vember, 1811, seven months before the United States de-
clared war against England, Jackson wrote to General
Harrison offering to assist him in putting down the
Indians. In fact, Jackson had already issued orders to his
men to be prepared to march northward if Harrison's men
were endangered. Militia commanders of western states
in those days were obliged to rely upon their own judg-
ment. Washington was a long, long trail from the fron-
tier. Before orders could reach the West from the East,
whole towns might be decimated. General Andrew Jack-
son never waited for orders from his superiors telling
him when to act. He moved when he pleased, and acted
in accordance with the situation of that particular mo-
ment. He ignored all orders, official or otherwise, that
did not synchronize with what he thought should be done.
That quality was both his strength and his weakness.

Said Jackson to Harrison : "Should the aid of part of
my Division be necessary to enable you to revenge the
blood of our brave heroes who fell by the deceitful hands
of those unrelenting barbarians, I will with pleasure march
five hundred or one thousand brave Tennesseeans. The
blood of our murdered heroes must be revenged that
Banditti ought to be swept from the face of the earth. I
do hope that Government will see that it is necessary to
act efficiently, and that this Hostile band, which must be
excited to war by the secrete agents of Great Britain
must be destroyed/'

164

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

The War of 181 2 has commonly been regarded by many
historians as a ''traders war." It appears to have been
desired much more by the agrarian expansionists than by
the eastern merchants and ship owners, who were most di-
rectly hit by the incessant encroachments upon and viola-
tions of American property rights. The War Party hoped
not only to rid the South and the West of the Indian bar-
riers against the advance of the agrarian frontier, but to
gather in the rich fur trade enjoyed by the British, and
the fertile farm lands of Canada. It was an ambitious
program, and it quite overwhelmed President Madison.

3
These were the conditions rapidly developing in the
country in the few years prior to the second war with
England. Andrew Jackson, home at the Hermitage, near
Nashville, is following each event as it unfolds. His pas-
sionate interest in the affairs of the day is extraor-
dinary for one whose only official position is that of
Major General of the western division of the State Mili-
tia. What is Jackson angling for? Legislative and judicial
honors have been his, and he has turned his back upon
them. Does he, can he, expect a higher office at the hands
of the people? If so, what? If he has political ambitions
he has not confided them to a single soul. The Presidency
is as far from Jackson's mind as anything possibly could
be, and yet he is in his early forties — the time of life
when a man has call to give eye to the future. But Jack-
son seems not to make any plans for the future. It is a
matter of come day, go day with him. He is a military man
on the frontier of the white man's civilization. Home with

165

ANDREW JACKSON

Rachel tonight, maybe entertaining a guest or two at
the Hermitage; in the thicket tomorrow contesting the
strength of the white man over the Red. Now at the race
track, or the cock-pit — arguing, betting, cheering ; now at
the auction block buying human flesh and blood to work
his plantations, or else demanding his own price for his
excess slaves.

As the clouds gather for the next war. General Jack-
son is living the quiet life of a southern planter, highly
respected in the community, loved by those who know him
best, feared by numbers of men who have felt the blast
of his violent oaths, or have seen the fury in his blazing
eyes that burn like balls of fire in a tiger's head. But
General Jackson is never quite as angry as he appears to
be. Not once has he ever permitted his temper to carry
him beyond ''reason." If General Jackson says, ''By the
eternal Almighty God, I will burn him alive," he means
to do exactly that, and sets in motion the machinery to
accomplish the deed.

If General Jackson writes a man a stinging rebuke and
concludes with a challenge to a duel, then he has fur-
bished his pistols in advance and awaits only the arrange-
ments for the combat. He is not a bluffer, though he is
something of a bully — a bully who is not a coward.

General Jackson is in close, intimate touch with nearly
all public men aligned in the political faith to which he
adheres, and many others besides. His opinions are sought
on diverse public questions, especially by Tennessee's rep-
resentatives in Congress, for they know that Jackson is
the spirit incarnate of the frontier; they know that what
he says is in the interest of the people without regard

1 66

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

to their social position, or their property, great or small ;
Jackson is a man of the people, and the people know it.
His letters fly in all directions to public men — from the
President down to the humblest Indian agent. He is no
respecter of what is called high place, neither does he
look upon those in lowly positions as mean. In a very
real sense Andrew Jackson is a passionate lover of liberty,
both personal and national; he regards all rights as sub-
ordinate to the rights of man. To express this love and
to attain these rights for himself and for others he not
infrequently tramples upon both. Does not all history point
to the Temple of Liberty as the citadel of the tyrant?

Freedom ! Rights ! Man ! These are but fragile stems
of some remote truth whose meaning is as vague as the
purpose of the bloody battles fought in its name. Jack-
son's character thus far bears many of the hall-marks
of a dictator whose sharp thrusts are blunted by the as-
cendant democracy of which he wills to be a spokesman.
There is confusion. The warp of personal will ever en-
tangled with the woof of the impersonal ideal. The Rights
of Man !

Although the Hermitage is frequently the gathering
place of Mrs. Jackson's numerous nieces, nephews, sisters
and brothers, and the friends of each of these, she feels
something is lacking. It is not want of love, for her tall
man adores her. There is dignity, stateliness in their
mutual love and respect, one for the other. Both are fond
of children, but their marriage has been childless. Did
the great fever, that accompanied the smallpox, and which

167

ANDREW JACKSON

for a time unbalanced Jackson's mind in his boyhood
following his harrowing experiences in the War for In-
dependence, render him sterile? If so, might that not ac-
count for his irascibility, his almost constant self-torture
in brooding over real and imaginary wrongs? On the
other hand, what of Rachel's previous marriage, likewise
childless? The answers to these questions might explain
much, but they are answe.rless.

Twins are born to one of Mrs. Jackson's brothers,
Savern Donelson. The mother of them is not a healthy
woman, and Rachel, partly to relieve her sister, but more
to satisfy her own longing and to provide a son and heir
for General Jackson, takes one of the infants when it is
but a few days old, home to the Hermitage. The Gen-
eral is pleased beyond measure. He gives the child his
name, Andrew Jackson, junior, adopts him, raises him
as his son, and will leave him his estate when he dies.

In a few years, still another nephew of Mrs. Jack-
son will be named Andrew Jackson Donelson, and this
boy, too, the General will fondle on his lap in the eve-
nings by the open fire, or sitting out of doors on the
porch while he and Rachel both smoke their long reed
stem pipes. As the two boys grow and become mischie-
vous, it is a common sight to see General Jackson sitting
in a great arm chair, one little Andrew wedged on each
side of him, the tall man's arms trying to pinion them so
they might not smack the newspaper from his hands and
laugh uproariously when they succeed in making him
scramble across the floor to rescue it.

Visitors at the Hermitage are astonished when they

i68

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

see the uncommon patience of General Jackson in his
home. They have heard of him as a fire-cater, a man-
killer, one used to uttering great oaths, one who will not
tolerate another to cross him in anything — yet here he
is at home, never so much as cross with the children, his
wife or the servants. He not only endures any amount of
mischief from these boys, but he is downcast when they
seem dispirited. Frequently he conducts important mili-
tary conferences or political pow-wows in the parlor of
the Hermitage while a little Andy sits upon each knee,
raised high off the floor, and playfully fighting each
other until the General spreads his legs far apart to
produce an armistice and end the racket.

People go away from the Hermitage and weigh the
dreadful tales they have heard about this turbulent man.
What they have seen and what they have heard do not
tally. But those outside the home circle on a certain
Tennessee plantation called the Hermitage know what
they are talking about.

Many of them were standing in the public square in
Nashville near the courthouse, where the slayer of one of
General Jackson's friends was being tried for murder, and
saw him, after he had testified to the good character of
the victim, mount the courthouse steps to denounce the
jury, in advance of the verdict, if the killer should be
acquitted.

''Oh pshaw," someone in the crowd interjects contemp-
tuously. Jackson stops his speech instantly.

"Who dares to say 'pshaw' at me?" he roars. There is
silence. He glares over the crowd, trying to seek out the

169

ANDREW JACKSON

offender. "By all that's eternal, I'll knock the head off
any man who dares say 'pshaw' at me." He continues
to harangue the crowd.

The year is 1811. Everywhere there is a feeling of im-
pending war. General Jackson, one year in advance of
the actual declaration of war by Congress, is busily send-
ing out orders to his commanders to be prepared to march
at a moment's notice. One might suppose that this is
Jackson's personal war, so energetic is he to get it started.
The General is one of the leaders of the War Party — the
south and western agrarians — and they will have the final
say.

His dispute at this time with Silas Dinsmore, agent
to the Choctaw Indians, serves to bridge the tedium be-
tween peace and war. Dinsmore is a United States officer
and represents in the Indian country the power and au-
thority of the United States. It is the duty of Indian agents
to protect the Indians from the encroachments of white
settlers, and the settlers from unwelcome visits of Indian
offenders. The good will or ill temper of the tribes toward
the United States may often depend upon the attitude
of the federal Indian agent toward them. He is, in sum,
the arbitrator on the scene between the white man and
the Red.

To the other duties of Indian agents has been added
that of preventing Negro fugitives from taking refuge in
Indian settlements. Slave owners have complained bitterly
of this to the federal government, and Dinsmore is one
of the first to act toward the prevention of this practice.

170

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

He erects a sign in front of the agency buildings, over
which floats the American flag, notifying travelers that
he will arrest and detain every Negro found traveling in
the Choctaw country whose master has not a passport,
and also evidence of property in the Negro. Certain slave
owners are beginning to protest to the Secretary of War,
William Eustis, that Dinsmore is too zealous, and is
causing great inconvenience in the Nashville district. Dins-
more points to the fact that the legislature of the Missis-
sippi Territory has approved the law of Congress under
which he has acted, requiring that all persons going
through the Indian country should be provided with a
passport.

While Dinsmore and the Secretary of War are waging
a paper dispute on the subject (the government being
anxious to uphold the law and at the same time not an-
noy the slave owners by its enforcement). General Jack-
son appears on the scene at Natchez with a drove of
slaves, whom he had sent to the lower country for sale.

He is thoroughly incensed over the passport require-
ment and is determined to make an issue of the matter.
As he approaches the Choctaw agency house, Jackson
arms two of his Negroes with rifles, and himself dis-
mounts, pistols in hand, in front of Dinsmore's cabin.
He decides to settle the question in a practical way. The
agent is not present and Jackson is aggrieved. He sends
his Negroes down to the edge of a creek to partake of
their breakfast, while he waits at the agency house for
the return of Dinsmore. Finally, he can wait no longer,
so he corrals his Negroes, two of whom are still armed,
and leaves a message for the federal agent that he, General

171

ANDREW JACKSON

Andrew Jackson, has been there, would have been pleased
to meet Mr. Dinsmore, but could not wait, and was pro-
ceeding to Nashville with his Negroes and without a
passport. Let Mr. Dinsmore make the most of it.

In Nashville, Jackson tells several friends that he was
ready to burn the agency house with the agent in it had he
been held up for the lack of a passport. "My pistols are
my passports," he declares angrily. Not satisfied to let
the matter rest here, Jackson takes notice that Dinsmore
has detained a woman slave owner traveling through his
bailiwick with a train of ten Negroes. Not only this, Dins-
more places a notice in the newspaper that he has done
so, and will continue so to do in upholding the laws of
the United States government. Jackson now goes to work
in earnest to try to effect the removal of Dinsmore, who
is merely doing his duty, if rather zealously. Off goes
Jackson's passionate outburst to George W. Campbell,
Tennessee's representative in Congress :

'The want of a passport! And my God, is it come to
this? Are we freemen, or are we slaves? For what are
we involved in a war with Great Britain? Is it not for
support of our rights as an independent people, and a
nation, secured to us by nature's God, as well as solemn
treaties, and the law of nations? And can the Secretary
of War, for one moment, retain the idea that we will
permit this petty tyrant to sport with our rights, secured
by treaty, and which by the law of nature we do possess,
and sport with our feelings by publishing his lawless tyr-

172

JOHN C. CALHOUN

WAR CLOUDS GATHER FOR 1812

anny exercised over a helpless and unprotected female?
If he does, he thinks too meanly of our patriotism and
gallantry."

The lawlessness in this instance, of course, rests with
Jackson; and the Secretary of War and President Madi-
son, both of whom have heard of the rumpus between the
General and the Indian agent, know who is in error. But
Jackson is not to be put off. He makes it a ''point of
honor" to pursue every man with whom he has a griev-
ance until "satisfaction" is rendered. The Administration
cannot afford to affront the turbulent General in Tennes-
see. The government is about to have a war on its hands,
and the General's support will be needed badly. It is
easier to lop the political head off the zealous Dinsmore,
who has been too ardent in upholding the laws of the
United States and annoying General Jackson.

Two years later Dinsmore is dismissed from office on
the flimsy pretext that his expense account was too large
and that he was absent from his agency upon a certain
occasion when he was urgently needed. Dinsmore dis-
appears and is reduced to poverty in a region where for-
merly he held regal sway. Eight years later, Dinsmore
will meet Jackson again, and will try to effect a recon-
ciliation, but the General will merely glare at him and
pass on.

7
It is the year 1812. Congress is enacting legislation de-
signed to put the country on a war footing. President
Madison is in favor of these measures which he hopes to

173

ANDREW JACKSON

employ merely as a threat to England. He still hopes
for peace, but the "War Hawks" — Henry Clay, John C.
Calhoun, and a host of other southerners and westerners,
— Andrew Jackson — are driving the President and the
country into 'war.

It is June, and Congress declares war against Great
Britain. Andrew Jackson's chance has arrived, but he
does not yet know it. Still, he does remember the vengeful
deeds of Tarleton and his Dragoons in the Waxhaws
during the War for Independence.

174

=^^

Chapter XIV
OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

/ILTHOUGH war was declared on June 12, 1812,
^/^ Tennessee did not hear of it until ten days later,
and on the 25th, General Jackson, through Governor
Blount, offered his services to President Madison and
those of twenty-five hundred men in his command. The
offer was promptly accepted. Few nations have launched
upon a war with a great power less prepared than was the
United States in 181 2. Its standing army consisted of
about seven thousand men; Congress had provided that
this force was to be augmented by volunteer enlistments
and appeal to the state militias. The American navy con-
sisted of a dozen fighting ships, while England possessed
nearly a thousand. Had it not been necessary for Great
Britain to concentrate her major attention upon Napoleon,
with whom she was then at war, the story of 181 2 might
have been vastly different.

War with the United States might well have been
viewed as a nuisance in England, even as the conflict was
so considered in Washington and New England. The
latter was decidedly hostile to the war, and in Massachu-
setts, Rhode Island and Connecticut the sentiment against

175

ANDREW JACKSON

it was so strong that those states refused to send their
quotas of soldiers to the front. Daniel Webster led a
strong anti-war contingent which skated mighty close to
the brink of sedition, and in 1 814 he threw his eloquence
against the Conscription Bill in Congress, priding him-
self ever afterward that the measure was defeated. In
1 81 4, a convention, representing five New England states,
was held at Hartford and expressed its opposition to the
war. Also in 18 14, the government's war loan was a fail-
ure, the bonds of that issue being sold at twenty per
cent discount. The financiers who did support the loan
demanded as the price of their aid, that the war should
end. In all of this the Madison Administration was well
nigh at the end of its wits. Madison could never keep up
with the war.

In the West, however, the war fever ran high. The
conquest of Canada was to be the first objective. At the
outbreak of hostilities England had about five thousand
regulars in Canada, and early in July General William
Hull, who had fought in the Revolution, crossed from De-
troit into Canada with two thousand men. In a few weeks
he retreated and surrendered. Michigan Territory passed
into the hands of the British. However, while General
Hull was surrendering at Detroit, the American frigate
Constitution was capturing off the Gulf of St. Lawrence
the British frigate Guerriere after two hours of fierce
fighting. This marked the first time that a British frigate
had ever been humiliated at sea. The incident heartened
the War Party, which had been sorely depressed by the
defeat in Canada.

Fears were entertained that, with the release of the

176

OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

British forces in Canada, England would next attack the
gulf ports, particularly New Orleans, where General
James Wilkinson, of Burr fame, was still in command.
Consequently the government dispatched a request to
Tennessee to send fifteen hundred troops to reinforce
Wilkinson at New Orleans.

On November 14, General Jackson, in a rhetorical
flourish of ardent patriotism, written by his young aide-
de-camp, Colonel Thomas H. Benton, summoned his
troops to the colors to "secure the rights and liberties of
a great and rising young republic." December 10 was
the day set for the troops to rendezvous at Nashville and
prepare to embark down the Mississippi. The soldiers were
expected to furnish their own arms, ammunition, camp
equipment and blankets, ''for which a compensation may
confidently be expected to be made by government, to
be allowed and settled for in the usual mode and at the
usual rates." ''Dark blue or brown uniforms," said the
General, had been prescribed for service, "of home-spun
or not, at the election of the wearer." On parade they
might wear white pantaloons and vests. Apparently pic-
tures of Bonaparte had already reached Tennessee and
provided an inspiration for uniforms.

Two thousand boys, youths and men present themselves
to General Jackson on the appointed day. The alacrity
with which Cumberland's manhood responds to the call
to arms pleases the General. The day is bitter cold, and
there may be many nights of out-door sleeping before
the company is ready to march. Major William B. Lewis,

177

ANDREW JACKSON

quarter-master and the husband of one of Mrs. Jackson's
nieces, has ordered a thousand cords of wood for camp-
fires at night. Major Lewis is a careful, thoughtful, and
exceptionally brilliant man. He will go a long way with
General Jackson in the years ahead, and will be one of the
main props of Jackson's eight years in the Presidency.

Every stick of wood is burnt on the first freezing night.
General Jackson and Major Lewis do not sleep. They
pass among the troops in the fire-light, seeing that all are
comfortable and that no sentinels are dozing. In the
morning. General Jackson repairs to a tavern for a few
winks. A soldier approaches him and complains that it
is a shame the soldiers were made to sleep on the freezing
ground while the officers provided themselves with warm
beds in the taverns.

''You damned infernal scoundrel," roars the General.
"Sowing seeds of disaffection among my troops! Why,
the quarter-master and I have been up all night, making
the men comfortable. Let me hear no more such talk, or
by God Lm damned if I don't ram that red-hot andiron
down your throat."

The company is organized. Colonel John Coffee, Jack-
son's old partner of store-keeping days, and likewise re-
lated to him by marriage, is to command one regiment
of cavalry numbering six hundred and seventy; two reg-
iments of infantry, fourteen hundred men in all, one
commanded by Colonel William Hall, the other by Colo-
nel Thomas H. Benton who before the war, had im-
plored the General to give him a good position should
one occur. Benton, also, will achieve a foot-note fame by

178

OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

his association with Jackson, and will become one of his
stanchest supporters at Washington.

William Carroll, a young Pennsylvanian, whose
soldierly bearing has attracted the General's eye, is made
Brigade Inspector. The General's aide and secretary is
John Reid, friend and companion, who, with Major John
H. Eaton, wrote Jackson's first biography.

The tall man is in high spirits. The country is at war
with England! He is in the field leading an army on to
New Orleans. But there is a fly in the ointment. General
Wilkinson, whom he hates, is in command at New Or-
leans, and when Jackson arrives he will be subordinate
to the man he despises. Jackson anticipates trouble with
Wilkinson, so, to make sure that everything will come out
all right, he takes along his pair of dueling pistols and a
supply of powder used on the ''field of honor."

On January 7, 181 3, two months after President Madi-
son had requested Tennessee to move an army to the
gulf, Jackson's infantry embarks for the sail down the
river. Colonel Coffee, at the head of his cavalry, gallops
across the country to join Jackson at Natchez. As
they start, Jackson sends a note to the Secretary of War :

'T have the pleasure to inform you that I am now at
the head of 2,070 volunteers, the choicest of our citizens
who go at the call of their country to execute the will of
the government, who have no conscientious scruples ; and
if the government orders, will rejoice at the opportunity
of placing the American eagle on the ramparts of Mobile,
Pensacola and Fort St. Augustine, effectually banishing
from the southern coasts all British influence." Jackson's

179

ANDREW JACKSON

zeal is far in excess of the exigencies of the war. He
seems to forget that war has been declared against Eng-
land, not against Spain, which holds Florida.

On February 15, the small boats bearing the troops
arrive at Natchez, where Colonel Coffee's cavalry has
preceded them. The men have left nearly a thousand miles
of freezing and tempestuous rivers behind them on their
thirty-nine days' trip. But General Jackson has arrived
ahead of the war, for all is quiet on the Mississippi.

Wilkinson sends a courier to inform Jackson to halt at
Natchez, as neither quarters nor provisions are ready for
them at New Orleans. Wilkinson adds that he has no
thought of yielding his superior command to Jackson, to
which the Tennessee commander replies : 'T have marched
with the true spirit of a soldier to serve my country at
any and every point where service can be rendered."
February passes, and the impetuous General informs the
War Department that if there is nothing for his soldiers
to do in the South, they should be employed in the North.
Another month and no word from Washington. General
Jackson and his army are engaged in nothing more im-
portant than the daily drill. Their provisions are scant,
and have been so for a long while. The country is at war,
but the soldiers have no one to fight.

Then a letter, dated February 6, addressed to Jackson,
arrives at Natchez toward the end of March. It is signed
by J. Armstrong, who has succeeded Eustis as Secretary
of War. Jackson is instructed to dismiss his troops as
**the cause of embodying and marching to New Orleans

180

OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

the corps under your command has ceased to exist." He
is further instructed to dehver to Wilkinson all articles
of public property in his possession. Jackson does not
believe his eyes. His soldiers are five hundred miles from
home, many of them are sick, none has received a penny
of pay — and now they are to be dismissed without means
of transport back to their homes.

He ignores the order from the War Department, and
is resolved to personally conduct his men back to their
homes whence they came. Washington, hearing of this,
issues new orders, directing Jackson's men to be paid off
and allowed pay and rations for the homeward journey.
But they are still to be dismissed in Natchez, and Jackson
disobeys the second command. He purchases supplies in
Natchez for the homeward march, giving the merchants
drafts for the amount, telling them the government will
honor the paper, and if not he will make it good out of
His own pocket.

There are one hundred and fifty sick men in Jackson's
army as the long, cold march begins over the five hundred
mile trail through the wilderness to the borders of Ten-
nessee. There are only eleven wagons for the conveyance
of these. Many of the sick are mounted on horses, and
General Jackson himself gives up his three mounts to
sick men and trudges afoot with his lean and ragged
army who have worn out their clothing in camp life with
nothing to do. The army on the homeward march aver-
ages eighteen miles a day and covers the journey in less
than a month.

General Jackson's conduct toward his men in this or-
deal wins him their lasting affection and tribute, and it

i8i

ANDREW JACKSON

is on this occasion that they bestow upon him the nick-
name, "Old Hickory." He is forty-six years old, but he
can endure without complaint the hardships and forced
marches of frontier warfare and camp life, which tax
the capacity of younger men in his command. The soldiers
soon observe that their General is as tough as hickory,
hence the affectionate sobriquet.

On May 22, the army of Tennessee is drawn up in
the public square of Nashville and dismissed. Thus ends
a useless and costly expedition, one which shows the in-
capacity of the government to conduct the war, and the
cross purposes of its orders in the attempt. But General
Jackson, though he has not yet fought on the battle front,
has endeared himself more than ever to Tennessee, and
is again regarded as her "first citizen."

But Congress was not willing to so regard him. It pro-
tested General Jackson's budget for his army's trans-
portation and other expenses, and the War Department
was of a mind to make Jackson foot the bill himself,
which it was impossible for him to do. Colonel Benton
went to Washington to intercede for Jackson and present
his claims on behalf of the army of Tennessee. Finally,
after much haggling, ways and means were found to
meet the bill, and Jackson was thus saved from financial
ruin.

4
The soldiers, while encamped at Natchez, had little
to do but to grumble now and then and conjure up jeal-
ousies against those given commands by General Jackson.
One such target for the enmity of the troops was William

182

OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

Carroll, much admired by Jackson and named brigade
inspector by him. During the homeward march, one of
the soldiers thought it time to enliven the journey by pick-
ing a fight with Carroll, but the matter rested until they
reached Nashville, when the soldier, who imagined him-
self insulted by Carroll, sent the latter a challenge to a
duel. Carroll refused to fight on the ground that his chal-
lenger was not a gentleman, so his enemies succeeded in
embroiling in the petty matter Jesse Benton, brother of
Colonel Benton, who was absent in Washington. Benton's
social status was such that his challenge to Carroll could
not be ignored.

Carroll appealed to General Jackson to become his sec-
ond, stating that there was a conspiracy to run him out
of the country. Jackson was thoroughly aroused and de-
clared Carroll should not be run out of the country. ''Make
up your mind," said Jackson, ''they shall not run you out
of the country as long as Andrew Jackson lives in it."

Jackson approaches Jesse Benton and reprimands him
for picking a fight with Carroll. But Benton persists in
settling the affair with pistols, so Jackson resolves to go
to the "field of honor" with his young friend. Benton fires
first and hits Carroll on the thumb, then Benton crouches
to receive the bullet of his antagonist; the ball enters the
part most exposed in a crouching position, and Benton
clutches his hind quarters like a boy after a spanking. He
will not be able to sit with comfort for many weeks.

Colonel Benton, having returned from Washington,
hears of the affair, and is infuriated wath General Jackson
that he should have seconded his brother's adversary.
Colonel Benton bellows in the taverns against Jackson,

183

ANDREW JACKSON

saying many uncomplimentary things about his comman-
der; and all of them are duly reported to the General,
who decides that a good horse-whipping will silence the
Colonel and teach him respect.

Colonel Benton is informed of what is in store for him.
He carries his pistols for the emergency. One day Jack-
son, in company with Colonel Coffee, is returning from
the post-office, and in the doorway of a nearby tavern he
espies Colonel Benton and his brother Jesse, now able to
limp about the streets. Jackson, whip in hand, approaches
the Colonel. "Now, you damned infernal rascal, I am
going to punish you. Defend yourself," says Jackson.

Benton fumbles in his coat for his pistol, and Jackson
instantly draws his own pistol from his coat tails. He
has the "drop" on Benton, and pokes the muzzle of the
weapon into Benton's ribs, forcing him back through
the areaway of the tavern. At this moment, Jesse, seeing
his brother in danger, fires point blank at Jackson. One
bullet is imbedded in the thick part of his left arm and
lodges against the bone ; another shatters his left shoulder
and leaves a long ugly wound. General Jackson falls pros-
trate at Benton's feet and is bleeding profusely.

At this moment. Colonel Coffee rushes upon the scene
and lunges at Colonel Benton, believing it is he who has
shot Jackson. In a quick turn, Colonel Benton steps back-
ward and topples down a flight of stairs.

News of the fracas spreads like wildfire through the
town, and in a moment Stokely Hays, a nephew of Mrs.
Jackson, and devoted to the General, is on the scene with
a dirk, striving might and main to plunge it into the heart
of Jesse Benton.

184

OFF TO WAR, HOME TO A DUEL

General Jackson is carried to the Nashville Inn. Two
mattresses are soaked with his blood. The town's medical
corps are soon in attendance and it is decided that the arm
must be amputated. But Jackson keeps his arm, bullet and
all. The ball will not be extracted for more than twenty
•years, when he will slip quietly from a White House con-
ference to a room upstairs, bare his arm to a White
House surgeon who will pluck out the offending bullet
while the patient smokes his pipe, and have his arm sewed
up and dressed so that he may return to the executive
office and resume the interrupted conference.

Meanwhile, Commodore Oliver H. Perry, only twenty-
eight years old, has won a notable victory over the British
fleet on Lake Erie. He captures two ships, two brigs, one
schooner and one sloop. The British hoist the white flag.
Thus Ohio is saved, and this enables the Americans to
regain Detroit and the control of the Michigan country.
But in the South what is happening?

The Creek Indians in Alabama have risen en masse
against the white man's dominion. Remembering the
words of the great Tecumseh, killed on the battlefield of
the Thames in Canada, that the white man is ever the
enemy of the Red, the Indians, aided and armed by Brit-
ons, have committed an orgy of slaughter at Fort Mims,
on Lake Tensaw, Alabama, a part of Mississippi Terri-
tory. Thirty-one days will pass before news of the mas-
sacre will reach New York. On September i8, Tennessee
hears of it. The Governor of the State, and officers of the
militia, repair to the Hermitage to consult General Jack-

i8s

ANDREW JACKSON

son, who is bed-ridden. His wounds, received in the puerile
affair with the Bentons as a result of backwoods gossip,
are slow in healing.

Rachel props the General up in bed for the council of
war. The Creeks are to be subdued at least, exterminated
if possible. Jackson, his arm in a sling and suffering in-
tense pain from the long, ragged wound in his shoulder,
again sets in motion the war machinery of the state.

1 86

Chapter XV
WAR WITH THE CREEKS

FORT MIMS is actually a stockade covering an acre
of ground enclosed with upright logs pierced with
five hundred port holes. Within the enclosure stands the
mansion of Samuel Mims, a wealthy planter, and a string
of shanties for his slaves. Thus he has protected himself
from the hostile Indians, and provided a place of refuge
for his neighbors. Along the Alabama River white settlers
have seen the Creeks painting their clubs red, and this,
they know, means war. Governor Claiborne, at New
Orleans, has dispatched nearly two hundred soldiers to
defend Fort Mims where five hundred and fifty-three
persons, among whom are more than a hundred women
and children, have taken refuge against the rising Indians.
Each day the fort is thrown into convulsions of fear by
reports of refugees having seen Indians, bedecked in war
paint and feathers, creeping in the underbrush nearby.
Slaves who bring back these unconfirmed reports are
flogged for alarming the whites.

It is August 30, 1 81 3. The gates of the fort are open,
women are preparing dinner for the encampment, children
are playing around the open doors of the inner houses,
and civilians and soldiers are smoking and spinning yarns.

187

ANDREW JACKSON

The beat of a drum is heard within the stockade — the
usual signal for dinner. That is the signal for which one
thousand Creek warriors have been waiting in a ravine
four hundred yards from the gate since long before
dawn. Led by Weathers ford, a half-breed Indian, lieuten-
ant of Tecumseh, the Creeks have come from Pensacola,
Spanish territory, where they were supplied with arms
and ammunition by the British. Among them are five
Prophets, with medicine bags and magic rods, ready to
perform their weird incantations and whip the Braves into
war fury.

A scene of carnage ensues. Women and children,
soldiers and civilians are slaughtered with tomahawks
and scalped. The Red men use their arrows as dirks and
British guns as clubs. They lift children by their heels and
dash their heads against the fences. White men spring to
their guns and attempt a defence. The commander, Major
Beasley, is killed trying to close the gates against more
advancing Creeks, who yell and gurgle ecstatically as
they dash onward to the beat of tom-toms in the death-
dance. White men leap to the port holes, sending volley
after volley into the ranks of the Reds. The five Prophets
lie dead. Their bodies are heaped in the welter of the
carnage.

Three hours pass and the slaughter goes on. The fort
is still in control of the garrison. The Indians retreat,
and are met by Weathers ford, mounted on a black horse.
He upbraids them for giving up and leads them to a fresh
charge to complete the work of destruction. The Red
men resort to fire and soon the enclosure is a mass of
flames, all except one little building into which the

1 88

WAR WITH THE CREEKS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^£^£^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

wounded whites have crawled. To this building surviving
women have fled with their children. The Indians, seeing
them, proceed anew to the killing. Babies are brained,
women are slashed to ribbons, the wounded are put out
of their misery. The orgy is complete. Four hundred
white men, women and children are dead when the south-
ern sun sets on Mobile Bay. Weathersford tried to lessen
the needless slaughter, but he could not control the blood-
lust of the delirious tribe, whose number also was re-
duced by about four hundred. That night the Indians
slept on the field of battle among their dead. Following
this massacre the Indians roved at will in the late Summer
and Autumn, plundering and killing. It seemed as if not
a white man could survive in Alabama.

It remained for white men to write of this bloody
incident, the causes that produced it, and the battles to
follow. One may be sure the Indians took a different view
of the matter. They were bent upon a race war, of which
the carnage at Fort Minis was meant only to serve notice
upon the white man that his dominion was to be challenged
at last. It was a rehearsal for great triumphs of feathered
men who believed in the potency of tomahawks and the
Great Spirit to save them from being pushed off the
earth.

This is the news that Governor Blount and General
Cocke, of East Tennessee, bring to General Jackson, bed-
ridden at the Hermitage. Blount calls thirty-five hun-
dred volunteers to the field, in addition to fifteen hundred
already enrolled in the service of the United States. The

189

ANDREW JACKSON

State Legislature appropriates three hundred thousand
dollars to defray immediate expenses, should the federal
government refuse to withstand the expenses of the ex-
pedition. General Jackson, on September 25, calls his
division to the field and sets October 4, at Fayetteville,
near the Alabama border, as the time and place to as-
semble. The next day he orders Colonel Coffee, with five
hundred mounted men, mostly volunteers, to proceed to
Huntsville, in northern Alabama. Tennessee is wild with
the war fever. Her men would as readily fight Indians
as British troops. In fact, they are the same, in the opin-
ion of the southwest.

On October 4, Coffee reaches Huntsville. He has col-
lected a force of nearly thirteen hundred men, many of
whom left their plows standing in the furrows, in their
zeal to join Jackson's cavalry going to the killing of In-
dians.

The General creeps out of his bed, aided by Rachel.
She helps him into his field uniform, for he can scarcely
stand unaided. His left arm is in a sling; he cannot en-
dure even the pressure of the epaulette upon his left
shoulder. He is gaunt, yellow and sick from the loss of
blood, and two of his slaves assist him in mounting his
horse tethered to a porch post. The General's pistols are
in the holsters on the saddle. He bends painfully to kiss
Rachel farewell. She fears she may never see the tall
man again. But what of that? He is a brave man, and if
he falls it will be in the service of his country. Rachel
knows how to smile bravely with the General — and she
knows how to wait. Jackson spurs his horse and gallops
down the road, turning to wave a last good-bye to Rachel

190

WAR WITH THE CREEKS

standing at the gate, watching him disappear over the hill
in a cloud of dust.

At Fayetteville, Major Reid, Jackson's aide-de-camp,
reads the General's address to his troops, in which the
need for discipline is the keynote. Jackson is a firm be-
liever in the potency of words. He never fails to address
his troops both before and after battles. He does this
personally, if possible. His men can never mistake who
is leading them. 'We must, and will be victorious," says
Jackson's address. "But we must conquer as men who
owe nothing to chance, and who, in the midst of victory,
can still be mindful of what is due to humanity. How
glorious it will be to remove the blots which have tar-
nished the fair character bequeathed to us by the fathers
of the Revolution."

Only once in the address is there an appeal direct to
the passions of the soldiers : 'The blood of our women
and children, recently spilt at Fort Mims, calls for our
vengeance ; it must not call in vain. Our borders must no
longer be disturbed by the war-whoop of these savages,
and the cries of their suffering victims."

A week passes at Fayetteville, waiting for all the
troops to arrive, drilling those present, organizing regi-
ments, purchasing supplies and issuing orders. The Gen-
eral's wounds appear to heal more quickly in war than in
peace. His exertions seem to exhilarate him, and the
light of victory, which he is sure shall be his, dances in
his eyes.

It is October ii. A courier from Colonel Coffee dashes
up to Jackson. The message says the Creeks are approach-
ing Huntsville. Jackson scratches a few lines and hands

191

ANDREW JACKSON

the paper to the messenger who mounts and is gone. In
two hours General Jackson has assembled his force and
is marching to Huntsville, thirty-two miles away. At
twilight his army is there, having marched six miles an
hour for five hours. None but western pioneers eager to
kill Indians could do it. But the Red men are nowhere to
be seen. The next day the troops march to the Tennessee
River, cross it, and join Coffee's command on the South
bank.

There is merriment in the camp among the soldiers,
and not the least of the causes of it is David Crockett,
notorious bear-hunter, western wag without a peer for
concocting marvelous narratives of embroidered adven-
ture. Crockett will become a member of Congress some
day, and also a national wit. Also, he will stump the coun-
try against Jackson, but just now he is spilling anecdotes,
moistened with alcohol to give them freshness and point.
He is the life of the camp. General Jackson, however, is
all sternness and severity. He reserves his humor and
hilarity for his own fireside, for the tavern bars and the
race tracks. While in the military saddle, or sitting at his
table at headquarters smiles rarely break the rigidity of
his long lean jaws. To him war is a serious business, and
laughter and ease may only come with assured victory.
Not only is he concerned with the enemy, but with the
welfare of his men. He has taken many young boys from
their homes. He knows their fathers and mothers. He is
an exacting father to them now, or so he wills to be.

The greatest enemy of all armies — Hunger — stalks into

192

WAR WITH THE CREEKS

his ranks. The General sends letters back to Nashville,
to the Governor, to East Tennessee, to whomsoever might
assist him in feeding his army — nearly three thousand
men and thirteen hundred horses — about to plunge into
the wilderness and the secret retreats of the Indians, with
supplies insufficient to last a week. ''Give me provisions
and I will end this war in a month," he writes. Major
Lewis, the quartermaster, is sent back to Nashville in
the hope of expediting the shipment of foodstuffs down
the rivers.

On October 19, General Jackson, hearing that hostile
Creeks are about to swoop down upon a fort occupied
by friendly Indians, near Ten Islands, of the Coosa River,
marches his army over the mountains to Thompson's
Creek, a branch of the Tennessee River, and twenty-two
miles from the previous encampment. During most of the
march the army has had to fell timber and make its own
roads. While at Thompson's Creek, the army throv/s up
a fort, which the General names Deposit in anticipation
of supplies which he supposes are en route. Colonel Cof-
fee's cavalry, who have scoured the banks of the Black
Warrior, a branch of the Tombigbee, has rejoined Jack-
son's forces after burning two Indians towns and collect-
ing four hundred bushels of corn.

Fresh alarms come from Ten Islands on the Coosa,
and Jackson is determined to march his army into the
heart of the enemy's country, food or no food. He will
trust to chance. On the twenty-fifth, the General ad-
dresses his soldiers, and the march begins. For a soHd
week Tennessee soldiers march and halt, according to the
state of their supplies. Jackson sends foraging parties in

193

ANDREW JACKSON

several directions with instructions to burn Indian vil-
lages and raid the posts that his own soldiers might eat.

As he marches, the General keeps up letter writing, im-
ploring the settlements for succor. At last they reach the
bank of the Coosa, near Ten Islands. At a nearby town
named Tallushatchee, it is known that a large body of
Creeks lie hidden in ravines and ambush awaiting their
pursuers. General Jackson orders Coffee to march with a
thousand men and destroy the place. On November 3,
Colonel Coffee takes Tallushatchee by surprise. White
men rush up to the wigwams, firing point blank at the
Indians in war paint and feathers. The Red-skins flee in
all directions, hotly pursued by Coffee's men, mounted and
on foot. Several Indians take refuge among the squaws
and children, believing white men will not kill women
and children, but a few of these also are numbered among
the dead.

The Indians fight as they retreat. Even those who
are mortally wounded strive to use their bow and arrow
as their bodies slowly become immersed in deep red pools.
"The enemy fought with savage fury," Coffee writes in
his official report to Jackson, "and met death with all its
horrors, without shrinking or complaining; not one asked
to be spared, but fought as long as they could stand or sit.'*
One hundred and eighty-six dead Indians are counted,
but at least twenty more have crept into the woods to die.
Five of Coffee's men are killed and forty-one are wounded,
most of the latter being struck by arrows.

During the battle of Tallushatchee, a minor Prophet
addresses the Braves from the roof of a house, assuring
them that American bullets cannot harm those who be-

194

WAR WITH THE CREEKS

lieve in the Great Spirit. His cries are loud, his gestures
are vehement. A simple Tennessee soldier takes aim and
fires. The Prophet topples from the roof in the midst of
the dancing demons who, like children, look about for
another Prophet of greater faith. One after another they
fall, screaming their curses at the pale faces before them,
and pumping their guns as long as life sustains their
trigger fingers. General Jackson is elated. That night he
sends word of the victory to the Governor and to Nash-
ville. The tidings will reach the white man's country in
a week or two, and toasts will be drunk at the taverns to
the health of Andrew Jackson.

Eighty-four women and children are taken prisoners at
Tallushatchee. There is not one male Indian left in the
town. All are dead. On the field of battle is found a
papoose embraced in the stiff arms of its dead mother.
One of the soldiers lifts the child upon his horse, and rides
with it into General Jackson's camp, where all the pris-
oners are rounded up. Jackson asks first one squaw and
then another to care for the infant, but each refuses on
the ground that an evil spirit will abide with the one who
assumes the burden. ''Kill him, too," say the squaws.

The Tiger Man, for as such is General Jackson known
among the hostile Indians, takes the child upon his lap
and gazes long upon it. He makes a mattress of his big
army coat on the floor beside his cot. He mixes a little
brown sugar with water and feeds the papoose himself
in his tent, the while he sends orders hither and yon to
his subordinates in the field to go hence and slay more

195

ANDREW JACKSON

Indians in the name of the white man's civilization. The
General names the papoose Lincoyer, and sends him up
to Huntsville, where the infant is cared for until the end
of the Indian wars, when Jackson takes his souvenir
home to the Hermitage. Rachel welcomes the new ar-
rival, who soon becomes the playmate of little Andy.
But Lincoyer will remain an Indian. The General will
educate him and apprentice him to a saddler in Nashville.
But the Red-skin develops consumption at the age of
seventeen years, and dies in "Aunty" Rachel's arms. His
body finds repose in the garden of the Hermitage.

General Jackson turns his attention to releasing friendly
Indians trapped in a fort at Ten Islands on the Coosa.
They are surrounded by a thousand hostile Creeks, who
have decided to first starve these traitorous Reds before
killing them. Jackson has thrown up a fort, which he
calls Fort Strother. Here his sick and wounded men are
placed. General Hugh L. White, who has resigned as
Judge in Nashville, and who is attached to the staff of
General Cocke, of the Eastern Tennessee Division, is left
in charge of the fort, while Jackson marches his army
to the aid of the friendly Indians.

The soldiers are only a few days from starvation.
Supplies have not come. Early in the morning Jackson's
army stands on the banks of the Coosa. The cavalry
carries the men across the river. The operation consumes
almost an entire day but the hungr}^ army marches on,
and by sunset on a chilly November day it is within six
miles of the town of Talladega. The General gives his

196

WAR WITH THE CREEKS

army repose, for on the morrow he will attack. All night
long he goes among his troops, cheering them and making
them as comfortable as possible.

At midnight a courier gallops into camp and informs
Jackson that General White will not be able to protect
Fort Strother, for he has orders to rejoin General Cocke
at once. Jackson is in a rage. Fort Strother is at the mercy
of the marauders. His sick and wounded men, weakened
almost to extremes by lack of food and proper medical
care, may be murdered before he can return to protect
them. But Jackson decides to trust to luck. He will make
short shrift of the enemy in front of him, and then go
back to Fort Strother, where he hopes sufficient supplies
will be on hand.

At sunrise on November 8, Jackson's army moves in
battle order. The militia is on the left, the volunteers on
the right, with the cavalry forming the extreme left and
right wings. They assemble in a curve and an advance
guard goes forth to draw the Indians into battle. The
Braves fight like veterans, but they are unable to with-
stand the murderous fire of Jackson's men. They retreat
to the mountains, pursued into ravines and ambush for
three miles. Two hundred and ninety Creeks lie dead on
the battlefield. Jackson's casualties are seventeen killed
and eighty-three wounded. Thus the beleaguered Creeks
in the friendly fort at Ten Islands are delivered, and
they rush forth to show their gratitude to the Tiger Man
who has effected their release.

Jackson turns back to Fort Strother. Not a pound of
flesh or a peck of meal has arrived. There are ominous
rumblings of discontent among the soldiers. The General

197

ANDREW JACKSON

scours the land for food and finds a few lean cattle. One
day a starving soldier approaches General Jackson. He
demands food.

"It has always been a rule with me," Jackson replies,
"never to turn away a hungry man when it was in my
power to relieve him, and I will most cheerfully divide
with you what I have." Jackson puts his hand in his
pocket and gives the soldier three acorns. "This is the
best and only fare I have," he says. "Drink a pitcher
of water with them ; that is what I do."

198

Chapter XVI
MUTINY AND VICTORY

THE white victory at Talladega and Tallushatchee
has had a sobering effect upon the Creeks. The
Hillabee tribe dispatches a messenger to Fort Strother to
sue for peace. Jackson replies that the massacre at Fort
Mims shall be avenged and with interest, but he declares he
does not wish to make war upon Indians who are disposed
to become friendly. They must, however, afford evidences
of their sincerity by returning prisoners and property, and
surrendering the instigators of the war and the murderers
of white men and women at Fort Mims. The Indian
negotiator returns to his tribe and reports that General
Jackson is willing to treat with them.

Meanwhile, General White, who knows nothing of these
peace overtures, has descended upon the Hillabee towns,
burning and killing. The Hillabees are amazed. First
Jackson outlines conditions for peace and then sends his
army to destroy even the village from whence the peace
messenger had come. The Indians do not know that Jack-
son is in a rage when he hears what General White has
done. The Red warriors, however, blame Jackson, and
from that moment they fight with greater fury; no more
will they ask for peace from the white man.

199

ANDREW JACKSON

Before all the Indian world, Andrew Jackson stands
as the betrayer of his written word. General White's
zeal has probably extended the war a year longer than
is necessary. For this General Cocke, commander of the
East Tennessee militia, will be blamed. He will also be
censured by Jackson, and in history, for failing to send
supplies to Fort Strother, as he had promised. But Gen-
eral Cocke did the best he could. He, nor none other,
could be expected to please General Jackson short of
complete compliance with the tall man's orders.

For ten weeks, Jackson's army is inactive at Fort
Strother. Their first passion to punish the Indians has
been satiated. Many of them are weary of army life and
long to return to their homes. They cannot be expected
to march and fight on empty stomachs. Many are in rags.

Aid and comfort for their mutinous intentions come
even from certain of^cers. First the militia, then the vol-
unteers, appoint a day when they will march back to their
homes, with or without the consent of their General.
But on each occasion, Jackson is up before dawn. One
morning he orders the volunteers to shoot down the first
militiamen who dare to desert. The next morning it is the
militiamen who stand behind their cannon and rifles
ready to rake the ranks of the volunteers should they break
for liberty. For the moment the soldiers are awed by
Jackson's wrath and the argument of his cannons. But
not for long.

They virtually force Jackson to lead them back to

200

MUTINY AND VICTORY

Fort Deposit where he has told them suppHes have arrived
and are on the way to Fort Strother. The men do not
believe it, so Jackson, leaving a sufficient number of loyal
troops behind to defend Strother, marches ahead of his
men through the wilderness to Fort Deposit. On the
road they see a drove of cattle headed for Strother. The
starving soldiers build camp fires, slay the beasts and eat.
But plenty of meat only increases their resolve not to
return to Fort Strother. They have gone this far toward
home, w^hy not continue? The order to return is given in
Jackson's absence, but one company moves off on the
homeward road. The General, hearing of this, gallops in
pursuit and overtakes them. He plants his horse in the
middle of the road and stands his rifle against the flank
of his mount. His left arm is still in a sling.

His eyes are blazing with pent-up fury and he boils
over in a torrent of oaths. His manner and language is
terrifying.

*'By the Immaculate God," he shouts in stentorian
tones, 'T will blow the first damned villain to eternity
who advances one step!" With his one good arm he has
aimed his rifle at the ranks of sullen patriots. There is
mumbling along the file as each man looks upon Jackson's
face and blanches. They decide to march back to Fort
Strother.

As December lo approaches General Jackson is brought
face to face with actual mutiny. The volunteers of his
army enlisted for one year on December lo, 1812. They
consider the months they spent in idleness at Natchez as
being included in the year of active service, but Gen-

201

ANDREW JACKSON

eral Jackson concludes otherwise. He insists the men
must actually serve three hundred and sixty-five days,
and that the months they were not in active service do
not count, even though they were at the call of the gov-
ernment. The issue is clear-cut. But Jackson wastes no
time. While attempting to restrain the men from march-
ing back home, he sends out an appeal to Governor
Blount for new levies. The volunteers are equally deter-
mined. All are weary of the war.

On the evening of December 9 an officer enters Jack-
son's tent and informs him that the whole brigade is in
mutiny. The tiger in the man is aroused. He can shoot
down white men, even his own soldiers, with as little
compunction as he can slay Indians. He orders officers and
soldiers to put down the mutiny. The malcontents are
drawn up in a file. They face the cannon and rifles of the
militiamen once more. They also face Jackson, who stands
beside his horse between the ranks of would-be deserters
and the militiamen ready to mow them down. He tells
the men reinforcements are already hastening to his as-
sistance, and that he is awaiting word from Washington
as to whether the men are entitled to be discharged or
not.

"I am done," he declares solemnly, "with entreaty.
You must now determine whether you will go or peace-
ably remain. If you still persist in your determination to
move forcibly off, the point between us shall soon be
decided." He demands an explicit answer on the spot.
Artillerymen have their fingers on the triggers, ready
to obey Jackson's command to fire. Hasty conferences
are held among the disgruntled volunteers, and they de-

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MUTINY AND VICTORY

cide to remain until the reinforcements arrive. General
Jackson is once more triumphant.

The General keeps his beloved Rachel informed of
v^hat is going on.

'Tressed with mutiny and sedition of the volunteer
infantry," he writes, ''to suppress it, having been com-
pelled to arrange my artilery, against them, whom I once
loved like a father loves his children, was a scene that
created feelings better to be Judged of than expressed. A
once conquered foe in front rallying to give us batde,
and a whole Brigade, whose Patriotism was once the
boast of their Genl and their country, abandoning the
service and declaring they never would advance across
the Cosa again . . . the officers atempted to lay the
blame on the soldiary, and result proved that the officers,
and not the soldiers were at the root of the discontent
. . . My heart is with you, my duty compels me to re-
main in the field, whether we will have anough men to
progress with the campaing I cannot say, for I fear the
boasted Patriotism of the State was a mere buble."

General Cocke's army having strengthened Jackson's
position, the General permits his disgruntled soldiers to
return to their homes, but not without first having read
to them an address which virtually brands them as de-
serters. Cocke brings two thousand men, but the service
of more than half of them is about to expire, and the
others are ill-clothed for a winter campaign.

Many of the horsemen under Coffee, who has been
made a General, have likewise deserted. In this fashion

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ANDREW JACKSON

America's second war is being prosecuted against Great
Britain and her ally, the American Indians. The militia-
men insist they have enlisted for three months only, and
their terms will expire, they say, on January 4. Thus
Jackson's army is disintegrating. Meanwhile, the British,
using Spanish Pensacola as a base, are menacing Mobile
and New Orleans. Governor Blount orders a new levy
of twenty-five hundred men to proceed to Fayetteville,
and await Jackson's orders. The Governor also orders
General Cocke to raise a new division of East Tennes-
seeans. The enlistments are to be for three months. Under
no condition will the men serve longer.

For twelve days in early January, 181 4, General
Jackson marches his raw recruits into the Indian terri-
tory and accomplishes results disastrous to the Braves.
Everywhere Indian villages are burned, their stores are
raided and hand-to-hand battles are fought. Bravery and
courage is equally distributed between the whites and the
Red men. In one of these battles General Coffee is
wounded, and Colonel A. Donelson, Mrs. Jackson's
nephew, is killed. In the several engagements, Jackson's
losses are twenty killed and seventy-five wounded. One
hundred and eighty-nine Creeks lie dead on the various
battlefields.

The return to Fort Strother is made in safety, and
Jackson dismisses those whose terms have expired. He
bids them farewell in a stirring, fervent address. Early
in February, two thousand East Tennesseeans are on the
way to join him ; almost as many more from the western
part of the state are awaiting his orders at Fayetteville,

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MUTINY AND VICTORY

and on the sixth the thirty-ninth regiment of the United
States infantry, six hundred strong, marches into Fort
Strother.

In the latter regiment is a youngster named Sam Hous-
ton. He is a brave lad and Jackson takes a liking to him
instantly. Sam will go very far. Some day he will be
Governor of Tennessee. Then something mysterious will
happen and his wife will desert him. Houston will go
back to live among the Indians and make his way toward
Texas. Indeed, he will become the President of Texas,
and later a United States Senator. They will name a
city, a fort, and what not, in his honor. But much that
Sam will know of soldiery in the years ahead he will
learn from Andrew Jackson in the wilderness as an
Indian fighter.

4
Among the raw recruits mustered into the service at
Fayetteville in December, 1813, was John Woods, eight-
een years old. He was attached to the twenty-eighth
regiment of West Tennessee, light infantry. Soon the
company is marched into Fort Strother. One early
morning in February, Private Woods is on guard. It is
long past breakfast time and Woods has not eaten. He
obtains permission to go to his tent for his blanket and
finds his breakfast there which his comrades have left
for him. Woods begins to eat it, when the officer of the
day approaches and orders him to quit and clean up the
camp. The Private refuses until he has had his breakfast.
He declares he has been given permission to leave his

205

ANDREW JACKSON

post and will return to it when he has had his breakfast.
The officer upbraids the young soldier and orders his
arrest.

Word of this reaches General Jackson, who has had
all the mutiny on his hands he means to endure. Jackson
rushes from his tent.

''Where is the damned rascal ? Shoot him ! Shoot him !
Blow ten balls through the infernal villain's body." Jack-
son believes the time has arrived for making an example
of mutinous soldiers. He erroneously believes that Woods
belongs to the same company that had previously mu-
tinied, and the General is too busy and too angry to find
differently.

Woods is duly courtmartialed and ordered to be shot.

The courtmartial meets in a forest between two tents,
and the prisoner is seated on a log waiting his fate. Gen-
eral Jackson rides by. "Be cautious and mind what you
are about," he tells the presiding judge, ''for by the
Eternal, the next man that is condemned I won't pardon ;
and this is a hearty, hale young fellow."

Friends of Woods prevail upon Jackson to show merry,
but the General is adamant. Remembering the great worry
he has had with malcontents, and now commanding a
large army in the southwest, in the ranks of which are
men none too eager to fight, Jackson roars and storms.
"No. By the Immaculate God, this villain shall die !"

On March 14, Jackson draws up the whole army to
witness the execution. He thinks the spectacle will react
as a good tonic for the patriotism of those who may be
thinking of flight or disobedience.

In the general order which is read to the condemned

206

MUTINY AND VICTORY

man, he is accused of previous flight, but this is an error
which first gained currency at his trial. Woods is made
to stand beside his coffin when the firing squad ends his
career.

Not one man in Jackson's army beheved the General
would dare to order the execution of a soldier for such
a slight infraction of the military discipline, which was
the most that Private Woods was guilty of. Jackson is
only a commander of the militia. Even a General of the
regular army would not take a man's life without first
referring the question to the War Department and for
review by the President of the United States. But to
General Jackson this formula is a waste of time.

5
At the end of March, General Jackson delivers the
finishing blow to the Creek nation. He destroys a body
of the Creeks at Tohopeka, or Horse-Shoe Bend, in the
northeast corner of Tallapoosa County, Alabama. He
pushes on to the last refuge of the Braves — Hickory
Ground, at the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa,
and the Holy Ground, a few miles distant, where the
Indians had been taught to believe that no white man
could tread the Holy Ground and live. Fort Jackson is
raised on Hickory Ground. In this battle young Sam
Houston is wounded. An arrow is buried in his thigh,
and he requests two of his comrades to extract it. They
tug at it, and finally withdraw the lance, bringing with it
strings of his flesh. The intrepid Houston rejoins his
comrades and fights hand-to-hand with the Braves, not
one of whom asks for quarter. The battle of Tohopeka

207

ANDREW JACKSON

resolves itself into a slow, laborious, methodical slaughter
of Indians. General Jackson is constantly at the head
of his army, cheering and directing.

At last, the carnage sickens even Jackson. He sends a
friendly Indian to tell the Chiefs the lives of the Red men
will be spared if they surrender. A volley of bullets from
the Creek warriors is the answer to Jackson. The battle
continues until night. Days pass, and the Red men are
in council. As a result of the pow-wow, the surrender of
Weathersford, brave leader of the Creeks, follows speed-
ily. On the way to Jackson's tent, Weathersford shoots
a deer which he presents to the General. Jackson is cor-
dial to the Chief. They drink brandy. 'Tf you wish to con-
tinue the war,'* says Jackson, ''you are at liberty to de-
part unharmed."

"There was a time," Weathersford replies, "when I had
a choice, and could have answered you. I have none now
— even hope has ended. Once I could animate my war-
riors to battle, but I cannot animate the dead. My war-
riors can no longer hear my voice; their bones are at
Talladega, Tallushatchee, Emuckfau, and Tohopeka." In
the battle of Tohopeka, the Indian losses are eight hun-
dred killed; three hundred captured; Jackson's losses are
forty-five killed, one hundred and forty-five wounded.

Jackson compels the Creeks to remove to the North,
thus cutting them ofif from intercourse with Florida. He
also throws thousands of Indians upon the bounty of
the government for succor, and during the Summer of
1 8 14 they feed at the public stores.

In his customary manner, General Jackson puts an
end to the zeal of friendly Indians who are bent upon

208

MUTINY AND VICTORY

exterminating their Red brothers for the massacre at
Fort Mims. He orders that all who molest a Creek Indian
after he has surrendered shall be treated as an enemy of
the United States.

Peace reigns throughout the Mississippi Territory. The
defeat of the Creeks, achieved in seven months, paves
the way for the defence of Mobile and of New Orleans.

On May 31, 18 14, Jackson is appointed Major Gen-
eral in the army of the United States, succeeding Wil-
liam Henry Harrison. Thus, the government pays its
tribute to the conquerer of the Creeks. Mississippi Terri-
tory presents Jackson with a sword, the first of many
public gifts to be showered upon him. What has he fought
in these seven months? Indians, starvation, mutiny and
chronic diarrhcea. The notion that Andrew Jackson has
an iron body perishes before the fact of his almost con-
stant illness since his duel with Dickinson in 1806. His
will alone is iron.

The British troops have not been idle. In the Summer
of 1814, an army is led against Washington, the seat of
the national government, now a town of only a few thou-
sand inhabitants. The heads of the government are driven
into the woods, while the English burn the Capitol and
the Executive Mansion. They move on to Baltimore, but
are stopped by the guns of Fort McHenry. Day and night
the British bombard the fort, but are unable to capture
it.

Francis Scott Key has been watching the bombardment
throughout the night, and it inspires him to write "The

209

ANDREW JACKSON

Star Spangled Banner." The United States at least gets
a song out of the War of 1812. From another of its wars,
in 191 7, it will get Prohibition.

What of the Indians? They will pass. In a few genera-
tions they will be immortalized in wooden statues deco-
rating the fronts of American tobacco stores. And then,
even these will pass. A few will be gathered in the
museums, not to perpetuate the memory of America's
early authentic settlers, but as specimens of the wood
carver's art.

Meanwhile, General Jackson is ordered to negotiate a
treaty with the Creeks, and to command the southern
division of the army. The terms of the treaty, signed
August 10, 181 4, are severe. The Creeks virtually give
up the ghost. They lose their land and their rights upon
it. The white man is pushing ahead. England and the
United States are weary of the war. A month before
the treaty with the Indians is signed at Fort Jackson,
American delegates are on their way to Ghent to meet
with British representatives to negotiate a peace.

What's that ! Peace talk ? Why, General Andrew Jack-
son has not begun to fight. These Indian affairs are only
a rehearsal. On to Mobile ! On to New Orleans !

210

?<^^^^^^^^<^^^^^^^<^^

Chapter XVII
JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

GENERAL JACKSON arrives at Mobile to fight the
soldiers of England. Excepting his brief experience
as a boy in the War for Independence, it is the first time
in his life he is called upon to face a civilized foe. But
British troops are his ancient enemy and, as he does not
consider them civilized, he is determined to crush them
as he has exterminated the Creeks, excepting those rem-
nants of Red-sticks who fled into Florida and found
asylum under the protection of the Spanish government.
The Spanish government is "neutral" in the War of
1 812. It manifests this attitude first, by providing a haven
for the Creeks before they went forth to battle against
Jackson's army; second, by receiving back into its fold
the defeated Braves; third, by providing a base for the
British fleet in the Gulf of Mexico from which English
ships might sail forth to shell a thousand miles of the
American gulf coast and capture, if they can. Mobile and
New Orleans.

But the British plan is even more ambitious. Having
captured New Orleans, the fleet will sail up the Missis-
sippi and unite with the British forces in Canada. America
may then beg for peace from the conquerors of Napoleon.

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ANDREW JACKSON

Jackson suspects this program when he turns his face
from the council of peace with the Indians and proceeds
to the offices of war at Mobile and New Orleans. He is
determined he shall have either "a clean victory or a clean
defeat." Either side will have something to crow about
when the war is over.

The government at Washington might just as well be
in the moon, so far as it is of any service to Jackson.
All that it sends him are letters of advice, which are nearly
a month in transit, from officials utterly incompetent to
advise him correctly.

He is left absolutely to his own devices to decide those
nice questions of diplomacy with the Spanish government
of Florida. He must virtually raise his own army for the
battles to come, as he had to do in the wars with the
Indians.

Pessimism reigns at Washington and throughout the
eastern section of the country. The famous Hartford
Convention, dominated by some of the most formidable
politicians of the nation, among whom is Daniel Web-
ster, calls upon President Madison to stop the war ; Jack-
son, hearing of this, says if he were commanding the
army of the East he "would hang every rascal at that
convention." The West and the South, however, still burn
with patriotic ardor ; and in certain other quarters there is
a desire that the war continue, although the element of
patriotism in these sections may be supposed to contain
a slight ingredient of more material matters.

For example, take the duPont de Nemours family in
the War of 1812. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours,
statesman, economist and powder manufacturer, de-

212

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

fended Louis XVI at the storming of the Tuileries. He
was imprisoned by the Jacobins but escaped with his two
sons and came to America. The elder du Pont was friendly
to Jefferson and would have settled in Virginia but for
his detestation of slavery which dominated the industry
and economics of that state. He settled on the banks of
the Brandywine, in the State of Delaware, and there his
son, Eluthere Irenee, in the first years of the nineteenth
century, established the Eleutherian Mills for the manu-
facture of gun-powder. It was these mills that furnished
all the gun-powder used by the army and navy in the
War of 1812, and thus was laid the foundation of the
fortune of the du Pont family, whose members now and
then have become statesmen, bankers, newspaper owners,
patrons of art and music — but all and sundry loyal to
the first and present love, the manufacture of powder.

Pensacola, in 181 4, has the best harbor on the gulf. It
is half a day's sail, or two days' march to Mobile. Spain,
whose king has just been restored to his throne by Eng-
land, can ill afford to deny Britain the use of the harbor
and the forts as a base from which to proceed against
the United States. Still, Spain has reason to feel that
her hold upon Florida may not last as long as she might
desire. The Americans are reaching out for more and
more territory, and are acquiring it, either by conquest
or purchase. Americans want to occupy the whole con-
tinent. The Spanish Governor, Gonzalez Manrique, is
adept in all the art of a grandee, but his garrison consists
of only a few companies of shabby troops, and he has

213

ANDREW JACKSON

only enough powder in his magazines to fire an occasional
royal salute. The population that composes his princi-
pality are Spaniards, fishermen, West India traders, Ne-
groes, Indians, soldiers, free-booters and pirates.

But there is great activity in Pensacola now. Nine
armed British ships are at anchor in the harbor. The
fleet is under the command of Captain W. H. Percy,
of the ship Hermes. Colonel Edward Nichols, command-
ing the land forces, is busy issuing proclamations to the
natives of Louisiana and Kentucky, extolling His Maj-
esty's cause, while Captain Woodbine, one of his of-
ficers, is dressing Creek Indians in the scarlet tunics of
British soldiers and trying to drill them.

The news of all this reaches the ears of General Jack-
son. His strategy is to attack the enemy where he finds
him, and he will certainly find him in Florida should he
take it into his head to go there. Accordingly, General
Jackson writes to Secretary of War Armstrong, pointing
out that England is using Florida as a base, and that
British officers are training American Indians in Pensa-
cola for war against the United States. What shall he do ?
Jackson asks. Shall he proceed to an invasion of Florida,
or shall he wait until the British emerge from their
haven? Washington is nearly thrown into a spasm of
fright when it receives this letter from General Jackson.
Madison and his advisers know the General's tempera-
ment only too well. They are afraid that he may do some-
thing to disturb the peaceful relations between the United
States and Spain, and cause the latter country to take
up arms on the side of England. The fears at Washing-
ton are well grounded.

214

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

Almost before General Jackson's letter reaches its des-
tination, he marches his army into the city of Pensacola
and storms the town. The Spanish Governor is greatly
perturbed, to put it mildly. Who is this western barbarian,
this Indian fighter, that dares to invade a neutral country
and take it by storm?

In one or two sharp letters, Jackson informs the Gov-
ernor that if he desires to continue to rule he had better
behave as a neutral in the future. The pride of the gran-
dee is deeply wounded by the high-handed tone of Jack-
son's warning.

It is extremely painful for him to stomach this : *Tn
future, I beg you to withhold your insulting charges
against my government, for one more inclined to listen
to slander than I am; nor consider me any more as a
diplomatic character, unless so proclaimed to you from
the mouths of my cannon."

If President Madison had seen that letter from Jack-
son he surely would have died. Meanwhile, Secretary
Armstrong is composing a nice letter to Jackson, urging
him to be most cautious in his. dealings with the Spanish
officials in Florida, and please not to offend them without
the most justifiable warrant. This letter reaches General
Jackson after the war is over, and v/hen Florida has al-
ready been invaded, taught a lesson in neutrality, and the
Spanish grandee made to feel that Andrew Jackson is a
man of his word and not such a bad fellow as generals

go-
Meanwhile, the British, disgusted with the action of

Governor Manrique in virtually capitulating to the Amer-
icans, have blown up Fort Barrancas, six miles from Pen-

215

ANDREW JACKSON

sacola, at the entrance of the harbor, and departed. They
will be heard from again.

General Jackson reaches Mobile. He finds it a village of
not more than a hundred and fifty houses, not one of
which is able to withstand artillery. But the city will be
won or lost at Mobile Point, thirty miles down the bay.
General Jackson has sent a hurried call to Tennessee and
Kentucky for additional troops. His call is responded to
with more alacrity than formerly, for Tennesseeans are
eager to fight the British. Many youths and men offer to
pay as much as thirty dollars to go as substitutes for those
who are called to the colors. General Coffee will soon be in
the field beside his old commander, with horses and men.

At Mobile Point, General Jackson finds what are prac-
tically the ruins of a fort — Fort Bowyer. Still, it is plain
to Jackson that Fort Bowyer is Mobile's chance of safety.
It has not been tenanted for more than a year and con-
tains nothing for its defence except cannons and cannon
balls. In this fort. General Jackson places a garrison of
one hundred and sixty men, commanded by Major Law-
rence, of the second regiment of United States infantry.

On September 12, 181 4, a body of British marines and
Indians are landed on the peninsula a few miles from the
fort. The Indians are the remnants of the Creeks, whom
Captain Woodbine has ''trained" at Pensacola. Toward
evening of this day four British men-o'-war glide into
view and drop anchor six miles off Mobile Point. These
ships are the Hermes, the Sophia, the Carron and the
Childers; the whole under command of Captain Percy.

216

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

For a few days there is great suspense within the fort.
The Americans know they will be attacked by a mighty
squadron of the British navy — the Mistress of the Seas.
Some of the enemy ships have been released from partic-
ipation in the Napoleonic wars, but, with the Corsican
Emperor banished to Elba, Britain may now afford to
spread her ships across the seas.

On September 15, the Americans peer out through the
portholes of the fort and over the ramparts. There is
martial activity on the peninsula among Woodbine's Red-
sticks, and off the coast Captain Percy has brought up his
ships in battle array, the flagship Hermes leading. General
Jackson gives orders to Major Lawrence that under no
circumstances shall the garrison surrender. H the British
are to capture Mobile they must first reduce Fort Bowyer
to ashes. Nothing less will do for General Jackson. The
slogan, *'Don't give up the fort," is adopted as the watch-
word of the day. Late in the afternoon, the British flotilla
opens fire. One by one, the ships give the fort practice
in long-range shooting, with little damage being done on
either side.

Then the gallant Captain Percy runs the Hermes into
the narrow channel that leads into Mobile Bay. He is
within musket shot of the fort, and turns his broadside to
its guns. The other ships follow suit behind him. Wood-
bine opens fire with a howitzer from behind a bluff on
shore, but a battery on the fort's South side scatters the
Creeks and persuades the British captain to keep his
distance. A furious cannonading follows. For one hour
and a half the fort and the British ships exchange balls
of fire. It would seem as though the old fort could not

217

ANDREW JACKSON

withstand many more balls from the cannons. But what
has happened?

Captain Percy's flagship, the Hermes, is raked from
stem to stern. Everything is swept from her decks — men
and materials — and she wallows in the sea. She is caught
in the current and drifts half a mile down stream. Cap-
tain Percy transfers his wounded to the Sophia, and sets
fire to his ship. The little garrison have time to reload
their guns for the next attack. They have humbled one of
the ships of the mighty British fleet — and now it is the
Sophia's turn.

The Sophia tries to take the lead, but she is soon
severely crippled and wriggles out of range. The two re-
maining ships hoist sail and depart for their old anchor-
age off the coast. Late at night the Hermes blows up
with an explosion that is heard by General Jackson thirty
miles away at Mobile. Woodbine, his marines and In-
dians have vanished from the peninsula before dawn of
the next day. Through the morning mist the Americans
in the garrison see the outline of the enemy ships far off
shore. British losses are thirty-two killed and forty
wounded. The American losses are four dead and ten
wounded within the fort. Mobile has been saved!

On September 21, General Jackson puts aside his sword
for the moment and grasps his pen. He is a writing Gen-
eral as well as a fighting General. His papers never fail
to produce terror among the enemy and confidence among
his troops.

"Louisianians," he writes, "the base, the perfidious
Britons have attempted to invade your country. They had
the temerity to attack Fort Bowyer with their incon-

218

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

grous horde of Indian and Negro assas-sins. They seemed
to have forgotten that this fort was defended by freemen.
They were not long indulged in this error. The gallant
Lawrence, with his little Spartan band, has given them
a lecture that will last for the ages ; he has taught them
what men can do when fighting for their liberties, when
contending against slaves. He has convinced Sir W. H.
Percy that his companions in arms are not to be con-
quered by proclamations; that the strongest British bark
is not invulnerable to the force of American artillery,
directed by the steady nervous arm of a freeman ... I
well know that every man whose soul beats high at the
proud title of freeman; that every Louisianian, either by
birth or adoption, will promptly obey the voice of his
country; will rally round the eagle of Columbia^ secure
it from the pending danger, or nobly die in the last ditch
in its defense."

4
General Jackson is forced to pass six weeks in idleness
at Mobile, waiting for fresh Tennessee troops. There are
days when it seems as though he is ill almost to extremes.
Those who see him at his headquarters comment upon his
gaunt, yellow, haggard appearance. In after years artists
and sculptors will portray him at this period of his life
as being a perfect specimen of vigorous manhood— your
ideal soldier. As a fact, almost every letter of his to
Rachel contains reference to the persistency of his ''bowel
complaint." At Mobile, October 21, he writes :

"My Dear : Genl Coffees near approach, gives not only

219

ANDREW JACKSON

confidence to me, but to the country, and I trust shortly
that I will be able to drive the lyon from his den, and
give thereby permanent security to this section of the
lower country. The approach of the British to and burn-
ing of the capitol, may be considered a disgrace to the
nation, but it will give impulse and energy to our cause,
the change, too in the Secrataries of War (James Mon-
roe has succeeded Armstrong), will aid much to the
energies of measures, and in the safety of our cause,
from our late successes, we have a right to hope that the
great ruler of the universe, who holds the destiny of
nations in his hand is on our side and as you Justly say,
if that is the case we will be successful, we will conquor.

"You ask me where is the bone that came out of my
arm (this is his left arm, shattered in the affray with
the Bentons). I enclosed it, in the letter that announced
that I had sent it, when you opened the letter it has fell
out, but do not grieve at its loss, it gave me pain, there-
fore the loss of it from my arm gives me pleasure.

"Say to my son I expect to see him shortly, that he
must learn to ride, be a good boy and never cry, that he
must do every thing his sweet mamma tells him, and he
must learn to be a soldier, as to you I can only say your
good understanding, and reflection will reconcile you to
our separation, the situation of our country require it
for who could brook a British tyranny, who would not
prefer dying free, struggling for our liberty and religion,
than live a British slave."

General Jackson is cute. He well knows that his refer-
ence to religious matters, about which he is both ignorant

220

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

and indifferent, will please his wife who, as she advances
in years and forgets the recklessness, imprudence, indis-
cretions and general gayety of her youth, becomes more
and more painfully pious, in an intolerant, narrow sense.
Adoring his wife, Jackson adopts as his own whatever
notions she may hold with respect to matters pertaining
to the soul. He knows it will do him no harm, and will
produce peace and harmony at the hearthstone of the
Hermitage.

And this warrior has need of at least one place in the
wide world where peace dwells. He is eternally at war
with the world of men. He is ever at peace in the world
of women. And yet, men love him and follow him.
Women admire him as they might a lion; but they fear
him and shrink from him, knowing how loudly he can
roar. But Rachel has never heard Andrew Jackson roar.
The commonest soldier in his ranks knows the intrinsic
character of her tall man better than she knows it. The
Jackson who goes home from the wars is not the General
of the battlefield, not even the same man who once fre-
quented the race track, the cock-pit and sang ribald,
frontier songs over tavern bars.

News of troops comes at last. But the character of the
news! At Fort Jackson, two hundred men, of those who
had been called out three months before to garrison the
fort, have mutinied and marched home. It is the old dis-
pute over whether they enlisted for three months or six
months. General Jackson again storms, swears, threatens.
His sickness falls from his shoulders like an old cape

221

ANDREW JACKSON

and he straightens up, as erect as stone, and swears "by
the Eternal" he will teach ''the damned rascals" a lesson.
Off go his letters to his subordinates at Fort Jackson,
demanding the immediate arrest and trial of the offenders.
Let not one man escape, he says. He cares not what they
thought about the term of the enlistment, whether it is
three months or three years. There is a war to be fought.
The enemy is at the gates of Mobile, and New Orleans
is undefended, an easy prey of the British fleet if it had
gumption enough to sail up the gulf and take it.

For the present Jackson will leave the capture and
courtmartial of the offenders at Fort Jackson to the
officers in charge. He has no time for such details now.
But later on he will have something to say about the
mutiny. But he will never hear the last of the step that
he has already made up his mind he will take.

At length real troops arrive. On November 25, General
Coffee comes with twenty-eight hundred men. There are
volunteers from Mississippi, and a body of friendly
Creeks. In a short while, when he gets to New Orleans, he
will cause the jails to be emptied and he will enlist the
convicts in his army; there will be Negroes, too; and
pirates — Jean LaFitte's crew — whom the British failed to
inveigle into their own ranks ; and there will be French-
men of Louisiana. General Jackson is in command of an
army of four thousand men, of whom one thousand are
troops of the regular United States army.

Having freed Pensacola as a base for the British fleet,
having saved Mobile by prompt action at Fort Bowyer,
where he still leaves Major Lawrence in charge of the
garrison, General Jackson turns the nose of his horse

222

JACKSON TALKS WITH CANNONS

toward New Orleans. Sick and worn, he rides seventeen
miles a day, covering the one hundred and seventy miles
by December i.

Here is the city wherein this Bad Man of the once
Cumberland Settlement will achieve immortality.

Does Andrew Jackson remember the day long ago
when, as a boy, he yearned to run off to war, to partici-
pate actively in the War for Independence, and, being
shunted off to a boarding house by his mother, he picked
up a scythe and began assaulting the weeds around the
house with extreme fury, saying to himself, ''Oh, if I
were a man, how I would sweep down the British with
my grass blade?"

Does General Jackson remember longing for that
chance ?

He smiles now as he enters New Orleans. The day has
come.

223

Chapter XVIII
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

NEW ORLEANS, situated below sea level, in 1814
is a city of twenty thousand inhabitants. Sugar
culture and the cotton trade are in their infancy. Still,
there is stored in the city one hundred and fifty thou-
sand bales of cotton, the product of two years, worth in
England more than a half million sterling. Also, there
are ten thousand hogsheads of sugar, which have a total
value of a million and a quarter dollars. There are a
number of fairly good sea-going vessels lying in the
harbors. Altogether, New Orleans is considered a rich
prize by the British, who will spend a million sterling
in their expedition to conquer the city and plunder it.
French Creoles form the majority of the population of
the city; among them are many Spaniards, half castes,
sailors from all the ports of the world, pirates, soldiers of
fortune, and a residue of Americans, among whom is
Edward Livingston, an exceptionally able man of wide
culture and learning.

Livingston, born in New York State, of an aristocratic
family, threw his lot in with Jeffersonian democracy, and
began what promised to be a brilliant career in Congress.

224

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

He, with Burr, supported Tennessee's claim for admis-
sion into the Union, and this was sufficient to endear him
to Jackson when the latter went to Philadelphia as Ten-
nessee's first member of Congress. In 1801, President
Jefferson appointed Livingston attorney for the United
States for New York State. Later he was appointed by
the Governor of New York to serve as Mayor of New
York City, and in 1803 he laid the foundation stone for
the present City Hall. During the celebration of that
event he gave workmen who were present one hundred
dollars to buy themselves drinks so that they might cele-
brate more fittingly and lustily. In 1803 an epidemic of
yellow fever ravaged New York City, and in due course
Mayor Livingston fell a victim to the disease. During
his illness, the treasury of the city was looted by his
subordinates, and when he recovered he found that he
owed the government fifty thousand dollars because of
the thievery of his underlings. Livingston resigned his
offices, sacrificed his property to square the debt, and
went to New Orleans to begin life anew as a lawyer.

It was Edward Livingston, gentle, brave, philosophical
and forthright, who began to prepare the public mind of
New Orleans for the defence of the city before General
Jackson had arrived there. It is Livingston who stands
side by side with Jackson throughout the immediate
ordeal, and who will continue to serve the Commander
and his country in more important pursuits in the years
ahead. Jackson could not have found a better ally and a
nobler friend than Livingston. History will lose sight
of this man, who effaced himself for those whom he re-
garded as his friends.

225

ANDREW JACKSON

General Jackson leads his party of five or six men into
the city. The General's countenance is "full of stern de-
cision and fearless energy," says one who saw him at
this time. "His complexion is sallow and unhealthy; his
hair is iron grey, and his body thin and emaciated, like
one who had just recovered from a lingering and painful
sickness. But the fierce glare of his bright and hawk-like
eye betrayed a soul and spirit which triumphed over all
infirmities of the body. His dress is simple and nearly
threadbare. A small leather cap protects his head, and
a short Spanish blue cloak his body, while his feet and
legs are encased in high dragoon boots, long ignorant of
polish or blackening, which reach to his knees."

The General and his aides are escorted to an old Span-
ish villa on the outskirts of the city, where incomparable
French cooks, hearing that the famous American General,
Andrew Jackson, is comi^ig, have prepared dainty viands
to tempt him. The table groans under the weight of rich
and savory food and the young aides do justice to it, while
General Jackson pushes it all aside and requests a bowl
of hominy.

The breakfast over, the General consults his watch
and 'tells his aides to follow him to the city, where Gov-
ernor Claiborne is waiting to welcome the defender. The
flood-gates of oratory are loosened, and many timid souls
find courage for one moment in their lives to deliver
themselves of their portion of bombast and patriotic ap-
peal. General Jackson listens to all this in silence. He has
not come to hear speeches but to whip the conquerors of

226

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

Napoleon. He is plainly bored, but he must reply at least
to the speech of Governor Claiborne.

General Jackson is not an orator. His voice is pleasant,
but unsuited for the platform. On this occasion the words
come from him in husky staccato barks, which are some-
what softened by the suggestion of a southern and Ten-
nessee drawl. He declares he has come to protect the
city and to drive the enemy into the sea, or perish in the
effort. He calls on all citizens of all nationalities to bury
their* differences and rally to the defence of the govern-
ment. He indicates very plainly that his word is law and
shall be respected and obeyed. Livingston translates his
speech into the French and the people applaud, but they
are awed. The man before them is passionately earnest.
He appears to be so ill. They had expected to see Napoleon
himself — or a huge robust General with golden epaulettes,
a shining sword, white pantaloons, glistening boots, dia-
dems sparkling on his breast, his hand pushed into his
coat as he speaks. They behold a slender, gaunt, unshorn
six-footer, his clothing wrinkled and frayed, weary from
the Indian wars.

General Jackson and his staff repair to one of the few
brick buildings existing in New Orleans — io6 Royal
Street, where a flag is unfurled from the third story
window to indicate to the populace that this is the head-
quarters of the defender. For ten minutes the General
reposes on a couch. Then he is up, and, accompanied by
Livingston, now the new aide-de-camp, he mounts his
horse and reviews all the troops within the city. He sur-
veys the ground and the topography of the country, the
lakes roundabout and the shores of the Mississippi. He

22y

ANDREW JACKSON

wants to know what kind of a city he means to defend.

In the course of the gallop, Livingston invites the Gen-
eral to his home for dinner, and the General accepts.
Word flies on the wing that General Jackson is in town,
and Mrs. Livingston, the gracious and gorgeous lady,
has invited a bevy of Creole beauties to help her entertain
the famous warrior.

At the appointed hour the General arrives with Living-
ston, and they are escorted into the great dining room.
The New Orleans beauties are shocked at the appearance
of Andrew Jackson. They had heard so much about him.
One young lady nudges another and giggles : ''Where
did the Livingstons ever come across this backwoods-
man?"

General Jackson in such a company is the embodiment
of grace and courtliness, much of which he learned from
the slick, suave Burr. Still, good manners and a certain
austere dignity are natural to him. He discusses neither
the war, nor himself, but engages the young women in
charming chatter about their city and themselves. When
he leaves the table with Livingston all eyes follow his
tall and erect figure. They love him. They do not believe
the horrific tales they have heard about his cruelties and
relentlessness as a warrior. General Jackson kill a man?
Impossible ! How little the ladies know what a man may
do when he is riding a purpose in a man's world.

In the days that follow. General Jackson supervises
alterations at Fort Philip, several miles up the river, which
he believes can be rendered an impassable barrier to the
enemy's ships. He inspects the borders of Lake Pont-
chartrain and Lake Borgne, broad shallow bays which

228

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

afford to the commerce of New Orleans a convenient
back-gate. Jackson depends upon his gunboats in Lake
Pontchartrain to prevent the enemy from reaching the
city by that means. A narrow strait connects Lake Pont-
chartrain with Lake Borgne in which there is a fortifica-
tion. It is highly important that the gunboats in Pont-
chartrain keep out the enemy. Two American war vessels
lie at anchor in the river, the Carolina and the Louisiana.
These are commanded by Commodore Patterson, who
awaits the hour to strike.

In Negril Bay is the British fleet of fifty armed ves-
sels, among them the huge Tonnant, of eighty guns, one
of Nelson's prizes at the battle of the Nile. The Tonnant
now flies the pennant of Sir Admiral Cochrane, in com-
mand of the formidable fleet. The decks of the ships in
Negril Bay are crowded with British Red-coats. There
are regiments who participated in the burning of Wash-
ington, and in the futile assault upon Baltimore. There
are regiments from the West Indies. In all, the British
have assembled in American waters an imposing army,
many of the troops having been led by the Duke of
Wellington against the army of Napoleon. Their fifty
ships carry a thousand guns. Their objective is the
swampy city of New Orleans, their enemy is a straggling,
ragged army, tired after the Indian wars, and in some
sections definitely mutinous.

3
Bad news for General Jackson. By December 15, the
British have advanced into the lakes and are about to make
a landing of their troops. Panic seizes New Orleans. The

229

ANDREW JACKSON

gun-boats have been captured. Lakes Pontchartrain and
Borgne are at the mercy of the foe.

General Jackson hurries to the city and a proclama-
tion is prepared by Livingston, at the dictation of Jack-
son, to the people of Nev^ Orleans. He w^arns all against
any act of treason or sedition in the emergency and bids
the populace to be calm. The next day General Jackson
declares the city to be under martial law^. Under the
terms of this act, all able-bodied men are inducted into
the military service, the aged and infirm are made to per-
form police duty in the city, the judges close their courts
and the jails are emptied of prisoners into v^hose hands
muskets are thrust.

On December 23, nev^s reaches Jackson that the British
have landed a force nine miles below^ the city and intend
to camp there for the night. The General drawls himself
up to his full height. His eyes blaze w^ith a new^ light
of fire, and his clenched fist bangs the table.

''By God Almighty," he declares, ''they shall not sleep
on our soil."

He sips a glass of w^ine and addresses- his aides : "Gen-
tlemen, the British are below^, we must fight them to-
night." Jackson sets his v^^ar machinery into motion w^ith-
out a moment's delay. His orders aref dispatched to his
commanders. Commodore Patterson is ordered to pre-
pare the Carolina for v^eighing anchor and dropping dow^n
the river. It is mid-afternoon. Jackson sits dow^n to his
dinner of half a cup of coffee and a small bow^l of rice.
Then he retires to his room and stretches himself out
on his couch. He sleeps for an hour and a quarter. It

230

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

is the last sleep the General will enjoy for five days and
five nights. He mounts his horse and departs for the
lower end of the city where stands Fort St. Charles. The
General takes his stand before the gates of the fort and
watches his regiments as they sweep past him. To each
commander he salutes, and now and then he addresses
cheering words to the men in the ranks — the backwoods-
men, — who are going to fight trained soldiers of His
Majesty's government. "Give it to the Red-coats," says
Jackson. "Give it to them good!"

Two thousand one hundred and thirty-one American
troops, more than half of whom have never been in action,
swing past their General to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."
The women in the city are alarmed. Many of them carry
daggers in their bosoms and beneath the folds of their
hoop skirts. It has been rumored that a British com-
mander has promised his soldiers "Beauty and Booty"
when they invest and sack the city. "Tell the ladies," says
Jackson to a civilian, "not to be uneasy. Not one British
soldier shall enter the city as an enemy unless over my
dead body."

"I will smash the Red-coats," he tells Livingston, who
is mounted by his side, "so help me God."

General Jackson now gallops with furious pace to the
head of his army. There is scarcely a moment when he is
not in the line of fire. He asks no soldier to risk his life
without also risking his own. He plays the old backwoods
strategy of cornering his enemy and then whipping him
unmercifully while he is in the trap. The Carolina is to
pull in close to the shore near the enemy's camp, give

231

ANDREW JACKSON

the signal for the attack and then pour broadsides of
grape and round shot into their midst, while the infantry
and cavalry get into action.

It is dusk. The Carolina booms the signal for the at-
tack. Jackson waits ten minutes that seem like ten years
before giving the command to advance. He wants to
focus the attention of the enemy upon the Carolina. Then
the battle is on and continues for one hour and a half.
The Americans give good account "of themselves, partic-
ularly General Coffee's sharpshooters, who are accus-
tomed to night warfare with the Indians. The British
losses are forty-six killed, one hundred and sixty-seven
wounded, and sixty-four prisoners and deserters. Jack-
son's losses are twenty-four killed, one hundred and fif-
teen wounded, and seventy-four .prisoners.

The Americans take refuge for the night behind the
old Roderiguez Canal, which is partly filled up and grown
over with grass. Shovels, and picks and wheelbarrows are
hastily sent for. The soldiers are going to dig trenches
right here at the delta of the Mississippi. ''We will plant
our stakes here," declares Jackson, ''and not abandon
them until we drive the damned rascals into the river or
the swamp."

But the soldiers have not dug more than three feet
before they strike water. Jackson is advised to construct
a ridge of cotton bales. No sooner said than done. Cotton
rolls out of the warehouses at New Orleans and soon a
fortification is raised. One of the owners of the bales
rushes up to General Jackson, protesting it is his property
which has been confiscated. General Jackson seizes a mus-
ket and places it in the soft palms of the merchant. "Since

232

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

this is your property, sir, .it is your business to defend it.
Get into the ranks."

What is happening at Ghent, where British and Amer-
ican plenipotentiaries have been discussing terms of peace?
They have signed a treaty. Earl Bathurst, of the Foreign
Office, writes to the Lord Mayor of London, on Decem-
ber 26 : "My Lord : I have the honor to acquaint your
Lordship that Mr. A. S. Baker (attache of the British
legation at Washington and secretary of the British com-
missioners at Ghent) has arrived at this office this morn-
ing from Ghent, with the Intelligence that a Treaty of
Peace was signed between His Majesty and the United
States of America by the respective Plenipotentiaries at
that place on the 24th inst. It is the same time my duty
to acquaint your Lordship that it is understood by the
Treaty that hostilities will cease as soon as it shall have
been ratified by the President of the United States as
well as by the Prince Regent in the name and in behalf
of His Majesty."

News of the peace travels apace in Great Britain and
in Paris. In the latter city the theaters resound with the
cries, **God save the Americans." In Washington, Presi-
dent Madison knows nothing of what has been done across
the sea. His wife, the delightful Dolly, entertains at a
large Christmas party. There is no Atlantic cable and it
will be some time before official Washington knows that
the war has ended. It will be even longer before General
Jackson hears of it at New Orleans.

There is much hilarity in the American camp. General

233

ANDREW JACKSON

Jackson's Christmas dinner is a bowl of porridge and a
cup of black coffee. In the British camp, where gloom has
prevailed since their reverses, there is joy now with the
arrival of Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, and
Major General Samuel Gibbs, his second in command.
General Pakenham is a brother-in-law of the Duke of
Wellington. He has won high and rapid distinction for
his valor and discretion on the field of battle against the
armies of Napoleon. The Duke thinks highly of him. He
is a North of Irelander, like the General whorn he has
come to face.

General Pakenham is given great quantities of misin-
formation concerning the strength of Jackson's army.
He is led to believe that there is nothing whatsoever to
prevent him from walking into New Orleans and help-
ing himself — then up the Mississippi and victory, victory
everywhere. He refuses to take into account the reverses
which the British have thus far suffered. Pakenham's
great optimism is his undoing. Jackson's faith sobers
him. The American General appears to take great chances,
but the fact is, he takes none until he is certain, or as
certain as it is humanly possible to be, of victory, and
that is not exactly taking a gambler's chance.

Pakenham resolves first to blow the Carolina out of
the water.

No sooner said than done. One of Jackson's mainstays,
the intrepid Carolina, is blown to splinters. Huge guns,
placed by the British on the levee during the night, do
their work with the dawn of December 2y. The British
next assault the American positions, and the result is
fifty Red-coats killed and wounded. The American losses

234

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

are nine killed and eight wounded. Still, the legisla-
ture and many citizens of New Orleans are panic stricken!
Their first thought is to save the city, while the first-
thought of General Jackson is to defeat the British, even
at the sacrifice of the city. He has made up his mind
that if he must retreat before the British troops, he will
himself burn the city, leaving not one brick on top of
another, so that if the British should arrive they will have
a hot reception, and an empty victory.

General Jackson has been informed that the legislature
are of the opinion that the city cannot be saved and are
about to give up the country to the enemy. Governor
Claiborne, who has never been on friendly terms with
the legislature, is ordered by Jackson to make a strict
inquiry into the matter, and, if he finds it is true, to ''Blow
them up."

Claiborne, receiving this message, proceeds to close the
doors of the Capitol to the law-makers. They are enraged,
and one and all they look upon Jackson as a desperado
and regret his coming. He has placed the city under
martial law, and now he dares to prevent the legislature
from meeting.

From January i to the night of January 7, the op-
posing armies engage in intermittent battles and sorties.
British losses invariably are higher than those of the
Americans, but this is partly due to the fact that British
commanders are certain of ultimate victory, and, as their
army is far larger than the American force, they expose
their troops recklessly to the unerring fire of the Amer-

235

ANDREW JACKSON

icans. General Jackson is constantly passing among his
men, urging them to take no unnecessary risk with their
lives, and to conserve their ammunition until they are
virtually certain of bringing down a Red-coat.

On January 4, two thousand two hundred and fifty
Kentuckians arrive. They will be commanded by General
John Adair. But observe their condition ; they are so
ragged that as they march they have to hold their gar-
ments to cover their nakedness. Only one man in three
is equipped with arms. They had expected to receive
clothing, supplies and muskets when they reached New
Orleans, but Jackson has none to give them. The legisla-
ture, however, which had been excluded from its cham-
bers only for several days, appropriates funds to provide
the men with clothing, mattresses and blankets.

Jackson finds two hundred muskets in the city, and
these he gives to as many Kentuckians and dispatches
them to the West bank of the river. For his own lines, he
has three thousand two hundred men against a trained
and disciplined army which he supposes numbers twelve
thousand troops. Actually, General Pakenham commands
seven thousand three hundred men — more than two to
one.

It is January 8, 181 5. It is one o'clock in the morning.
General Jackson lies on the couch on the top floor of his
headquarters. Several of his aides sleep upon the floor.
The Commander does not know how tired he really is.
A few minutes after one, Jackson looks at his watch.
"Gentlemen," he calls to his sleeping aides, 'Vise. We

236

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

have slept enough. The enemy will be upon us in a few
minutes." General Jackson buckles on his sword and tucks
his pistols into his coat-tails. He tosses a cape around his
shoulders, dons his leather hat and strides forth. Before
four o'clock the British are up and busy.

It is six o'clock. The fog partly lifts. The Americans
strain their eyes for a sight of the enemy. They are
coming in two columns, led by General Gibbs. They march
within range of General Carroll's Tennesseeans with
small arms, the rifles; behind these are the Kentuckians,
four lines of sharpshooters. The rifles rake the British.
The gaps are so great in the English columns that the
rear troops run pell-mell to fill them.

The Red-coats under Gibbs falter in face of the hellish
fire. General Pakenham, on his mount, dashes headlong
into the furnace, crying "For shame" at his troops who
seem to be in retreat. A bullet crashes through his arm,
and it dangles at his right side. His horse is shot from
under him. The column reforms and again marches into
the American fire. Musket balls, cannons, rifles and grape-
shot level their ranks even with the plain. Red-coats pitch
headlong into the ditch before the American breastworks.
A volley of grape-shot crashes into the midst of Red-
coats among whom Pakenham is the central figure, and
the gallant British Commander falls dead. A few moments
later General Gibbs, second in command, is killed, and
next General Keane is wounded in the neck and thigh.
Still, the British troops come on and five hundred and
forty- four of their number are slaughtered within a hun-
dred yards of the American lines.

The Red-coats are demoralized. They appear to be fas-

^Z7

ANDREW JACKSON

cinated by the deadly aim of the Americans, by the awful
slaughter, and walk straight into it, like a crazed horse
dashing into roaring flames. The actual battle has lasted
only twenty-five minutes, but the roar of guns from each
side is heard for a much longer time. During the entire
battle General Jackson has stood near the center of the
scene, on a slight elevation. As the advancing columns
of the foe approached he walked among the troops say-
ing now and then : "Give it to them, boys. Let us finish
the business this day."

After the slaughter, and as the British retreat across the
plains, several subordinate officers beg the General to per-
mit them to pursue the foe, but he refuses. ''No," he says,
"the lives of my men are of value to their country, and
much too dear to their families to be hazarded where
necessity does not require it." The British losses for this
day are seven hundred killed, fourteen hundred wounded,
and five hundred prisoners. Jackson's losses are eight
killed, thirteen wounded and no prisoners.

On the West bank of the river, however, the Ameri-
cans suffered a serious reverse. The British Colonel,
Thornton, gained an advantage over General Morgan's
Kentuckians, whom Jackson accused of fleeing in disorder
before the enemy. The British losses had been so great,
however, that General Lambert, now in supreme command
of the British forces, decided it might be too costly to hold
the West bank if Jackson should decide to defend it with
reinforcements from the East bank, and he abandoned the
position. Casualties among the British command were
especially high. Three major generals, eight colonels and

238

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

lieutenant colonels, six majors, eighteen captains and
fifty- four subalterns were among the killed.

On February 4 the news of General Jackson's victory
reaches Washington. The Capital, from the President
down to the humblest citizen, is wild with joy. None had
expected a victory, least of all at New Orleans. While
Washington is still celebrating Jackson's decisive triumph,
official word comes on February 14 of the peace that had
been signed at Ghent on December 24. All knew then that
Jackson had fought a vain battle two weeks after peace
had actually been declared, and that even if the British had
captured New Orleans they would have been obliged to
restore the city to the Americans and depart. But this
does not prevent the nation from paying him its tribute.
The states shower him with their resolutions and gifts.
Congress orders a gold medal to be struck in his honor,
and citizens of all ranks acclaim him.

There is but one hero in the United States. He is
Andrew Jackson. His name is on every tongue, whether
wagging in the parlors or in the taverns. They all know,
or think they know, the quality of their hero.

President Madison at once dispatches a courier to New
Orleans with a message to Jackson informing him of the
peace. In nineteen days the messenger will arrive with the
tidings.

239

Chapter XIX
THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

GENERAL JACKSON now prepares to march his
army back to the city of New Orleans, He has oc-
cupied the camp of the enemy, who seem to have departed.
Ahhough a total of only fifty-six men in Jackson's armies
have been killed in battle, the thirty days following Janu-
ary eighth witnessed the death of about five hundred
American soldiers, who fell victims to influenza, swamp
fevers and dysentery. The first act of Jackson after the
great victory is to address a letter to the Abbe Dubourg,
head of the Roman Catholic clergy in Louisiana, urging
the Abbe to appoint a day of public thanksgiving ''to be
performed in the cathedral, in token of the great assist-
ance we have received from the Ruler of all events, and of
our humble sense of it."

The Abbe promptly names January 23 for the perform-
ance of the Te Deum in the cathedral. Church bells
throughout the city on that day proclaim the tidings of
the triumph, and a gorgeous pageant is staged in honor of
the defender. A triumphal arch is built, and, as General
Jackson passes under it, the women of New Orleans and
many from other states, strew his path with flowers. A

240

THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

crown of laurel is presented to the General, who accepts it
with a pretty speech which he addresses to the Abbe.

*T receive with gratitude and pleasure the symbolical
crown which piety has prepared," says Jackson, with a
grand and courtly bow. 'T receive it in the name of the
brave men who have so effectually seconded my exertion
for the preservation of their country — they well deserve
the laurels which their country will bestow."

On the occasion of these services at the cathedral, Gen-
eral Jackson still did not know that peace had been de-
clared.

On the day before he repaired to the church to receive
the crown of laurel 'Svhich piety had prepared," he signed
the death warrants of six Tennessee militiamen who were
found guilty by a military court of mxUtiny at Fort Jack-
son on September 19-20, 18 14. These men had been
called out by Governor Blount to reinforce Jackson at
New Orleans, and when they reached Fort Jackson they
were told by their officers that they could not legally be
made to serve longer than three months. Hence, when
that period ended they, with nearly two hundred others,
proceeded to raid the stores in the vicinity for food to last
them on their homeward journey. Records of the trial all
tend to show that the men honestly believed they were
entitled to depart at the expiration of three months' serv-
ice. Those who escaped the death penalty were punished in
various ways, and in several cases swords were broken
over the heads of the officers Vv^ho were found guilty of
aiding and abetting the mutiny.

Jackson left the matter of the trial to the military
tribunal which, for the most part, comprised officers sta-

241

ANDREW JACKSON

tioned at Fort Jackson where the mutiny occurred. In
December the men had been found guilty, but Jackson
was too busy with the defence of New Orleans to give con-
sideration to the offenders. Despite the fact that on Janu-
ary 19 he declared his belief that Louisiana was no longer
in peril, three days later he could sign the death warrant
of six American soldiers who appear to have been mistaken
in their conception of their term of service.

It is February 21. The place is Mobile. Although only a
little more than a week ago the British made a second at-
tack upon Fort Bowyer, now there are rumors of peace.
Everyone believes the war is over. Everyone except
General Jackson, who is determined that nothing shall
be taken for granted, least of all the question of peace.

So on this day, February 21, he has six coffins placed
in a row and each of the six victims, among whom is a
Baptist preacher and the father of nine children, is made
to kneel on his box blind-folded. General Jackson has or-
dered his troops drawn up in a circle so they might witness
the spectacle. Citizens are not discouraged from partici-
pating as witnesses. A firing squad ends the miseries of
these men, all of whom wrote letters to their families pro-
testing their innocence.

The public outside of Mobile pays no attention whatso-
ever to these executions. Even the newspapers of Wash-
ington contain no reference to them. Washington and the
East, as well as the South and West, is too joyful in cele-
brating Andrew Jackson, the hero of New Orleans and
the conqueror of the British army, to note General Jack-

242

THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

son, the executioner of six misguided American soldiers.
It is certain that if General Jackson held in his hands on
that bloody day the document certifying that peace had
been declared he would not have spared the lives of those
hapless men from his own state. He himself had suffered
too much from mutinous troops to be merciful now. He
does not even bother to inform himself as to how the con-
demned men arrived at the idea that they had enlisted only
for three months, instead of for six months. If he had
conducted such an investigation he might possibly have
discovered that the misunderstanding was between Gov-
ernor Blount, who called out the levy, and the government
at Washington, who first sanctioned it.

This matter will not be referred to again until the
Presidential campaign of 1828, and then Jackson's en-
emies will use the ghosts of these men to plague him as
"a. murderer." But General Jackson in that day will de-
fend his conduct with letters and statements that seem to
misstate the case. Congress will order an inquiry, and
Congress will whitewash the hero of New Orleans. It is
one of the blackest blots that thus far has stained his
escutcheon.

3
After the executions at Mobile, General Jackson gallops
off to New Orleans, where he meets Livingston, who has
recently returned, February 19, from a visit to the British
fleet with the news of the peace. Admiral Cochrane, it
appears, has received this intelligence in advance of the
Americans on land. The report spreads rapidly and there
naturally is great joy and celebration in the city. Jackson

243

ANDREW JACKSON

tries his utmost to dampen this gladness. His position is,
there is no peace, and shall be none, until he has been
officially informed by the government.

'The Louisiana Gazette," however, prints a paragraph
to the effect that "a flag has just arrived from Admiral
Cochrane to General Jackson, officially announcing the
conclusion of peace at Ghent between the United States
and Great Britain, and virtually requesting a suspension of
arms." When Jackson's eye scans this paragraph he im-
mediately flies into a tantrum. Of course Cochrane has
sent him no flag, but the Red-coats already are reliably
informed of the peace. In fact, Livingstone has notified
Jackson that the British have officially received the news.

But this did not deter the Commanding General from
dispatching a severe rebuke to the editor of the offending
newspaper, denying that peace exists and concluding with
the warning: ''Henceforward, it is expected that no pub-
lication of the nature of that herein alluded to and cen-
sured will appear in any paper of the city, unless the
editor shall have previously ascertained its correctness, and
gained permission for its insertion from the proper
source."

All of which means, of course, that Jackson has taken it
upon himself to censor the press and has suspended the
constitutional guarantees on the plea of an emergency
which he has officially stated he does not believe now
exists. There is not a man in the country who has pro-
tested louder than Jackson against any encroachment upon
the people's liberty. Likewise, there is not another man in
the new republic who would dare affront individual and
collective freedom as Andrew Jackson has done. And here

244

THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

is a devout Democrat; a hater of tyrants; a lover of
liberty! Philosophy, consistency are not in this man.

The editor growls loudly under his muzzle, and the
French section of the community is quite disturbed by
Jackson's high-handedness. They hit upon the scheme of
appealing to the French consul, M. Toussard, for French
citizenship papers in order that they might have protection
from the General's wrath should they care to speak their
minds freely. The Consul issues the papers and hoists the
French flag over his Consulate.

General Jackson meets this situation immediately by
ordering the Consul and all Frenchmen who are not citi-
zens of the United States to leave the city within three
days, and not return within one hundred and twenty
miles of the city until the ratification of the treaty of
peace has been officially published. Moreover, the General
scans the voting register of the last election to ascertain
who are citizens and who are not.

This is too much for Frenchmen in Louisiana, who have
been loyal to the United States and who fought in Jack-
son's army, to stomach. One of their number writes an
indignant letter to the editor, protesting the banishment of
Frenchmen from New Orleans, and concluding with the
remark: 'Tt is high time the laws should resume their
empire ; that the citizens of the state should return to the
full enjoyment of their rights ; that, in acknowledging that
we are indebted to General Jackson for the preservation
of our city and the defeat of the British, we do not feel
much inclined, through gratitude, to sacrifice any of our
privileges, and, less than any other, that of expressing our
opinion of the acts of his administration."

245

ANDREW JACKSON

Here was an open challenge. The letter is duly pub-
lished in the ^'Gazette" and is signed by ''A Citizen of
Louisiana of French Origin."

Here was a choice morsel for General Jackson to chew.
He promptly sends for the editor and demands the name of
the contributor. That individual proves to be Louis Louail-
lier, a citizen of the United States, member of the legisla-
ture, and a man of considerable fortune, who had assisted
Livingston in preparing the public mind for the defence of
New Orleans and helped to raise funds to feed and clothe
Jackson's hungry and ragged troops. All of this has no
weight with Jackson. On Sunday, March 5, he orders the
arrest of Louaillier, who is thrown into prison. The next
day the courier from President Madison arrives at Jack-
son^s headquarters with official word of the peace, but he
has neglected to bring the proper document. Jackson now
knows that the war is over, but he proceeds with the court-
martial of Louaillier on the same day that he receives
word the war is ended.

On the day that Louaillier was arrested, his attorney,
who witnessed the incident, rushed to the home of Fed-
eral Judge Dominick A. Hall. The Judge issued a writ of
habeas corpus for the temporary release of the legislator.
Jackson seized the original writ and gave the court offi-
cer who served it upon him a certified copy of the docu-
ment. He then proceeds to send his soldiers to arrest
Judge Hall, of the District Court of the United States,
accusing him of "aiding and abetting and exciting mutiny
within my camp."

The General's order is promptly obeyed and Sunday

246

THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

night the Federal Judge is locked up in the barracks with
Louaillier. A few days later, assured that the war is over,
General Jackson disbands the militia. Meanwhile the
courtmartial acquits LouailHer of all charges except one,
illegal and improper conduct, and for want of jurisdiction
frees him of that. But Jackson disapproves of the verdict
and keeps the legislator in prison until March 13, when he
receives the official notification that the United States has
ratified the Ghent Treaty.

Meanwhile, General Jackson, after keeping the Judge
a prisoner for a week, decides to banish him from the city,
and Judge Hall is escorted by soldiers four miles outside
the city limits and is forbidden to return until the official
peace has been published at the pleasure of Andrew Jack-
son.

On March 22, Judge Hall, having crept back to his
court, first making sure that he does not encounter the
General or his soldiers on the way, orders Jackson to show
cause why an attachment should not issue against him for
contempt of court in disobeying the writ of habeas corpus
and imprisoning the Judge who issued it. On March 31,
Andrew Jackson, in mufti, enters Judge Hall's court, fol-
lowed by a disorderly crowd of his admirers. His follow-
ers set up a fearful racket, jeering the Judge and cheer-
ing for Jackson. The Judge is plainly frightened. He
believes he is about to be mobbed for daring to hale be-
fore him the defender of New Orleans.

General Jackson mounts a chair and addresses his root-

247

ANDREW JACKSON

ers. He admonishes them to conduct themselves with
decency and decorum, and to "show due respect to the
constitutional authorities." As if he respects them!

'There is no danger here," he says, addressing the
court. "There shall be none ; the same arm that protected
from outrage this city against the invaders of the coun-
try will shield and protect this court, or perish in the
effort." The Judge breathes easier now, for there is fire in
the General's eyes and he means what he is saying.

So the court feels safe in fining General Jackson one
thousand dollars for contempt of court. His followers be-
lieve he has won another signal victory and they carry him
from the shrine of justice on their shoulders and bear
him through the streets. Presently a fine span of horses,
drawing a pretty carriage in which sits a lady at ease, on
her way to market, perhaps, come dashing down the street
toward the crowd. The rabble stop the team, unhitch the
horses and shoo them off, and bid the fair lady to emerge
and proceed to her destination afoot. General Jackson,
though he protests, is placed inside the carriage and his
adherents draw him through the city streets in triumph.
Huzzahs for Jackson resound through the city and soon
a great throng is following the absurd spectacle, while
the dignified and courtly General is striving to disengage
himself from it.

The General sends Judge Hall a check for the fine under
protest. In 1844 Congress will pass a bill remitting this
fine with interest, and a check for two thousand seven
hundred dollars will be sent to the Hermit at the Her-
mitage with due apologies and greetings.

248

THE GENERAL TESTS HIS POWER

The war is over. The United States did not get Canada,
but it did get the ''Star Spangled Banner." The British
got neither Beauty nor Booty anywhere. Incidentally, they
discovered that a half-starved, ragged army of backwoods-
men are pretty good fighters when led by a man like
Andrew Jackson, who never knew the sweet sensation of
taking a good licking. In due course, Mrs. Jackson ar-
rives at New Orleans to see the city that her husband
has so gloriously defended. She is fat and dumpy now, and
Mrs. Livingston tries her best to fit the Tennessee lady in
clothes of the prevailing fashion, but, as it is impossible to
discover just where is Mrs. Jackson's waist line, the task
is abandoned.

In May, the tall man and his wife depart for home.
They are given a reception, the like of which no city or
state ever gave a citizen of the republic up to that time.

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Chapter XX
MORE HOT WATER AND FLORIDA

GENERAL JACKSON enjoys the change from the
battlefield to the peace of Hermitage, the com-
panionship of Rachel and her good cooking ; the mischief
of his adopted son, Andrew, and the renewing of friendly
ties in Nashville.

But it seems that the old freedom in which he loved to
go about the town and visit its taverns is gone. Every-
where he is regarded with awful respect, for he is the con-
queror of a mighty foe, and his acquaintances no longer
feel free to hail him with the old frontier familiarity.

The General does the best he can to dispel the spirit of
awe in which he is held by his neighbors, but he fails, and
gradually he comes to realize that henceforth he is a public
man and must sacrifice many private privileges.

There is no swagger about Andrew Jackson. He wears
the same size hat. The plaudits of the people are not needed
to give him a high opinion of himself. They merely con-
firm what he has known all along with respect to his power
over men and his ability to bend them to his will, whether
in war or in peace. In the old days his playmates said
they could throw him, but '*he would never stay throwed."
There are many who have discovered the truth of those

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boy statements made when Jackson was a gangling youth
called "Sandy Andy."

Jackson is not clever, nor shrewd, nor subtle. He is un-
learned in all the artifices which most men trade in to gain
their point and position in the world. He would be most
surprised, and perhaps would reach for his pistols, if one
were to suggest that his private or public conduct had not
been moral, according to the usual standards.

In the cool Autumn Jackson mounts his horse and pro-
ceeds by easy stages to Washington. Everywhere along the
route he is feted by officials and applauded by the people.
At Lynchburg, Virginia, he is tendered a banquet at which
the venerable Thomas Jefferson, now seventy-two years
old, appears and offers a toast to the hero. The General
replies by raising his cup and offering a toast to James
Monroe, recently Secretary of War, now Secretary of
State, a Virginian, friend of Jefferson's and a candidate
for the Presidency. For these reasons the General's compli-
ment to Monroe is significant.

At Washington, General Jackson is the guest of Presi-
dent Madison at the White House, at the homes of Cab-
inet Ministers and many private establishments. Dolly
Madison does herself proud in preparing a gorgeous feast
at the Executive Mansion for the hero, and she invites the
most eminent and exclusive society of the Capital to at-
tend. Jackson is the darling of the nation. His giant popu-
larity is in the first flush of its youth. At Washington he
consults with the President on the matter of placing the
army on a peace footing of ten thousand troops. Jackson
will continue to hold his post as Major General of the
Southern Division of the army.

251

ANDREW JACKSON

Early in 1816 he is back in Tennessee. He now de-
votes himself principally to his personal affairs, managing
his estate, looking after the crops and the cattle, and the
welfare of his slaves. He builds a church for Rachel in
the garden of the Hermitage. This little edifice, which
will seat only about fifty persons (Mrs. Jackson has almost
that many relatives in the community), is duly incor-
porated into the Presbytery, through the General's influ-
ence, and a minister is supplied. Rachel pleads with Jack-
son to join the church and "give his heart to the Lord,"
but the General decides to hold off. Rachel is very sad, but
her sorrow is neutralized by the possession of her own
church, which is a wonderful toy and solace to her.

The election of 1816 arrives. There are only two candi-
dates, James Monroe, of Virginia, and William H. Craw-
ford, of Georgia. Monroe is chosen over Crawford who,
actually, is not Monroe's competitor in this election, but is
merely taking his place in line for the succession. General
Jackson, who had supported Monroe's cause in 1808 over
Madison, takes no prominent part in the election of 181 6.
Instead, he contents himself with writing numerous let-
ters to the President-elect, lecturing and advising him on
the complexion of his Cabinet.

It is Monroe's notion to name Jackson Secretary of
War, and when this bid reaches the Tennesseean he
promptly declines it. His candidate is Colonel William
Drayton, of South Carolina, a Federalist, whom Jackson
does not know and has never seen. The General's letter to
Monroe, urging the appointment of Drayton, is written

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by Major Lewis, Jackson's old quarter-master, who is
beginning to place firm stakes for Jackson as a future
Presidential candidate. Monroe is thus urged to name
Drayton as a gesture of reconciliation between Federalists
and Republicans. Later on Jackson's letter will be made to
serve his cause by showing that as early as 1816 he held
out the olive branch to the Federalists. It will be used as a
bid for their support in 1828.

Really, from this time onward, the political fortunes of
Andrew Jackson are in the hands of one of the most
astute, cautious and intelligent Presidential-makers that
the country will ever know. No man need fear his destiny
when placed in the hands of Major William B. Lewis.
Even Jackson is not yet fully aware that he is being
molded for the Presidency. He has already said the idea
is ridiculous, that, even were it possible, he would still
prefer the private life with Rachel and his cronies. The
General is sincere in this. He loves power but he is not
willing to have political balls bounced on his nose, like a
trained seal, to attain it. Moreover, Jackson honestly does
not think he is competent to be President. He has a very
exalted idea of that high office, and if he has fought with
some of its occupants he still has reverence for the place.

The General turns his thoughts for the present to quiet
and moral speculation. His nephew, Andrew Jackson Don-
elson, is a cadet at West Point, having won his appoint-
ment through the influence of his uncle. The General
thinks a little advice on intimate matters to the youth
might not be amiss. He dates his letter February 24, 18 17.

"My Dear Andrew : You are now entered on the theatre

253

ANDREW JACKSON

of the world amongsht Strangers, where it behoves you to
be guarded at all points. In your intercourse with the world
you ought to be courteous to all, but make confidents of
few, a young mind is too apt, to form opinions on
speecious shows, and polite attention by others and to be-
stow confidence, before it has had proofs of it being well
founded, when often, very often, they will be deceived,
and when too late find to their Sorrow and regret that
those specious shows of profered friendship, are merely
to obtain confidence of better to deceive, you therefore
must be careful on forming new acquaintances, how and
where you repose confidence. . . .

*'I do not mean that you should shut yourself up from
the world, or deprive yourself from proper relaxation or
innocent amusement but only, that you should alone inter-
mix, with the better class of society, whose charectors are
well established for their virtue, and upright conduct.
Amongsht, the virtuous females, you ought to cultivate
an acquaintance, and shun the intercourse of the others
as you would the society of the viper or base charector — it
is an intercourse with the latter discription, that engenders
corruption, and contaminates the morals, and fits the
young mind for any act of unguarded baseness, when
on the other hand, the society of the virtuous female,
enobles the mind, cultivates your manners, and prepares
the mind for the achievement of every thing great, virtu-
ous and honourable, and shrinks from everything base or
ignoble."

Jackson's ideas of personal purity and morality are not
an acquisition of advancing years. His sex life has been

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singularly chaste, and he simply will not tolerate the pres-
ence of anyone loose in his relations with women.

But this meditative excursion into homespun philosophy
does not long serve to hold the General's attention; he
will direct his thought to more imperative matters and
dispatch them in his wonted fashion. In his various mili-
tary enterprises, Jackson has found plenty of reason to be
annoyed by orders flying over his head to his subordinates
in the field. Sometimes the War Department itself has
provoked him by indulging in this practice, but the General
was always too busy and too far from Washington to
trace the offenders and rebuke them. As there are now no
wars to be fought, he loses no time in straightening out
this matter.

On April 22, 181 7, he sends an order from Nashville
to his department in the South admonishing his sub-
ordinates to ignore any orders from the War Department
in the future unless countersigned by himself. Thus Jack-
son elevates his authority above that of the War Depart-
ment, and even of the President of the United States, who
is the Commander-in-Chief. This order astounds Wash-
ington. It excites the private criticism of Brigadier Gen-
eral Winfield Scott, who views Jackson's attitude as en-
couraging mutiny and insubordination. As usual, there is
a busybody who communicates Scott's remarks to Jack-
son. All the tiger blood of Old Hickory is aroused once
more.

He nurses this grievance against Scott for some months,
and when he can no longer endure his anger he gives vent

255

ANDREW JACKSON

to it by dispatching an insulting letter to Scott, denounces
him for his ''tinsel rhetoric," excoriates "the inter-
meddling pimps and spies of the War Department who are
in the garb of gentlemen," and concludes by challenging
General Scott to a duel. Scott, in his letter which is at once
witty and caustic, declines Jackson's invitation to a duel
on religious and patriotic grounds. The incident blows
over, and John C. Calhoun, who has become Secretary of
War, upholds Jackson because he can not do otherwise;
but Calhoun tells Jackson in a letter that, should a na-
tional emergency arise, the War Department might pos-
sibly have to be so bold as to issue orders to its command-
ing generals. Thus Jackson has scored another personal
triumph. The matter does not set well with Secretary
Calhoun, who has a considerable opinion of his own im-
portance. Later on Calhoun will even up the matter of
being humbled by General Jackson, but the Secretary of
War will pay for it with his political hide.

4
Spain's possession of Florida for many years has been
a sore point with the United States, particularly to the
expansionists, among whom is Jackson. But Jackson
despises the Spaniards on general principles. They are not
Americans, yet they reside on the American continent.
That is enough for Jackson. Moreover, when Spain pos-
sessed Mississippi the people of Tennessee were constantly
at swords' points with the Spanish authorities over the
question of shipping rights on the Mississippi River, a
privilege that Spain was inclined to deny to the people of
Tennessee.

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Following Jackson's wars with the Creek Indians in
Alabama, many of the Red-sticks fled to Florida for pro-
tection of a foreign power; and during the War of 1812
they became the pawns of British commanders, who re-
cruited many of them into their own ranks. Jackson never
forgot this fact, and he would forgive neither the British
nor the Indians. These Indians, who now took the name
of Seminole, harbored the belief that with the signing of
the peace treaty between the United States and England
their lands, taken from them by Jackson in 1814, would
be restored to them. As a result, there was constant fric-
tion between the Whites and the Reds on the Florida bor-
der throughout 1816-17-18. The Spanish authorities were
not disposed to move in suppressing these disorders, and it
was generally believed that there still were British agents
in Florida inciting the Seminoles to war against the United
States.

Another factor that was irritating to the southern whites
was that Florida became a haven and a refuge for run-
away slaves, particularly from the neighboring state,
Georgia. These slave owners were unable to pursue and
bring back their chattels from Spanish territory. Besides,
quite a number of Americans, among them Major John H.
Eaton, General Jackson's neighbor, relative and biog-
rapher, had invested in Florida lands against the day
when the territory would pass from Spain into the Union.
These were a few of the economic circumstances that led to
the crushing of the Seminoles, the ruthless treatment of a
foreign power, however impotent was its rule on the
American continent, and the ultimate forced cession, which
cannot be called conquest, because Florida was purchased.

257

ANDREW JACKSON

In 1 817, Florida was filled with adventurers, free-booters
and pirates, especially on the East coast.

General E. P. Gaines had been left in command of
Jackson's district nearest the Seminoles, and he was in-
structed by the War Department to preserve peace on the
Florida-Georgia boundary, but that he should not pursue
the Indians into Spanish Florida unless in extreme cir-
cumstances. There had been killings on each side — first a
few Indians then a few whites. Near Fort Scott in Georgia
there was an Indian village called Fowlton. The Chief of
this village of forty-five Seminole warriors was embit-
tered against the United States. He had made threats.
On November 21, 181 7, General Gaines dispatched two
hundred and fifty men to Fowlton to bring the Chief and
his warriors to Gaines, who desired to know the extent of
the ill feeling.

Before the soldiers had entered Fowlton they were fired
upon by the Seminoles, but without effect. The fire was
returned and two Indians and one squaw were killed. This
infuriated the Indians, who believed the Americans had
come to dispossess them. That error was to cost them
their very existence as a nation in Florida.

Nine days later, an open boat containing forty United
States troops, seven women, wives of the soldiers, and
four children, all under command of Lieutenant Scott, of
the Seventh Infantry, was slowly coming up the Ap-
palachicola River, within a mile of reaching the junction
of the Chattahoochee and the Flint Rivers, and not far
from Fort Scott. The boat was keeping close to shore.
There was not a sign of Indians, when all of a sudden
a volley of musketry was fired into the boat. All were

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killed and scalped save four men who jumped overboard
and one woman, whom the Indians carried off.

News of this assault reaches Washington, and Presi-
dent Monroe, who is not at all anxious to have another
war on his hands, can do nothing less than command
General Jackson, who is resting at the Hermitage and
watching the situation in Florida, to proceed to the scene
of war and conduct it. Monroe is hopeful that General
Jackson will do nothing to embarrass the negotiations now
underway with Spain for the purchase of Florida. But
Jackson has other thoughts. He is a conqueror, not a pur-
chaser. General Jackson loses no time in stating his
thoughts to the President.

"Let it be signified to me," he writes on January 6,
1818, ''through any channel that the possesion of the
Ploridas would be desirable to the United States, and in
sixty days it will be accomplished." Jackson is merely
fishing for sanction from the President to do that which he
has already decided he will do anyway. When this letter
reaches the President he is sick in bed, and Calhoun, who
takes it to the sick chamber, does not bother the President
with the reading of it. By the time Monroe gets around to
reading Jackson's letter he will have on his hands a lovely
situation in the negotiations with Florida.

Calhoun informs Jackson that there are now in the field
eight hundred regular troops and a thousand Georgia
militiamen. The General is given permission to call on the
governors of the states for additional troops should he find
this number insufficient. Jackson, upon his own responsi-

259

ANDREW JACKSON

bility, and without reference to the governors of the states,
raises his own army — an act which the President himself
could do not without first obtaining the consent of Con-
gress. But this is all red tape to Andrew Jackson.

Two weeks later, Jackson has organized two regiments
of a thousand mounted troops, one hundred of whom are
Nashville men who have fought by his side in each of his
campaigns. They will follow him no matter where he leads.
Once more Jackson bids good-bye to Rachel. She is accus-
tomed to seeing him go off to the wars. When he is no
longer in view, she repairs to her own little church in the
garden, and kneels alone before the altar that she loves,
and prays for the safety and speedy return of her man.

This is the kind of a war that Jackson likes. It is not
only an Indian war, but it is directed, at least in his mind,
against a foreign power — Spain, and incidentally England ;
for he has not forgotten that Spain violated her own neu-
trality and permitted British troops to use Florida as a
base in the War of 1812. The General feels good as he
faces the cool winds of the southern winter. He rides fast,
like a hungry man going to a barbecue. The distance from
Nashville to Fort Scott, Georgia, is four hundred and
fifty miles. The General covers it in forty-six days, but
when he arrives he learns that a part of the Georgia militia
thinks ill of the war and has gone home.

In a short time. General Jackson with his army reaches
St. Marks, a Spanish post. He burns Indian villages on
the way, and leaves it to the friendly Indians of his army
to pursue those who have escaped. St. Marks boasts a
feeble Spanish garrison. Jackson has already invaded
foreign territory. This alone is enough to anger the Span-

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ish government, but when he reaches the fort he demands
that the Spanish troops evacuate it and give place to the
Americans. They hesitate and argue, so Jackson captures
the place, takes possession of it, and ships the garrison off
to Pensacola.

While the American troops are at St. Marks an Ameri-
can vessel arrives from New Orleans with supplies. The
commander hoists British colors as a decoy, and Hil-
lishago, otherwise known as Prophet Francis, a Seminole
Chief, and another lesser Chief, go aboard after rowing
ten miles. They are promptly bound in irons, shipped
back to the fort and hanged without trial on General Jack-
son's orders. He acts on the assumption that these Chiefs
had instigated the attack upon Lieutenant Scott and his
party in the open boat.

It developed later that, after the attack on Fowlton, an
American citizen was captured by a Seminole and carried
off to an Indian village. He was about to be killed and
scalped. It was Hillishago who spared the white man's
life. But that would have made no difference to Jackson
even had he known it. White men's lives were supposed to
be spared by Indians!

Jackson next turns his attention to two men whom he
supposes are British spies and inciting the Seminoles to
war. These men are Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotch
trader, seventy years old, and Robert C. Ambrister, former
British lieutenant of marines. Arbuthnot had long been
friendly with the Seminoles. He was their accredited agent
and received powxr of attorney from their Chiefs to
transact their business. There is no evidence that either
man, despite his friendly attitude toward the Indians

261

ANDREW JACKSON

(Arbuthnot's friendliness had an economic basis, for he
was a trader), incited the Seminoles to take up arms
against the United States.

A courtmartial is summoned at St. Marks, a Spanish
post, over which the American flag now floats. Arbuthnot
is sentenced to be hanged as a spy and inciting the Sem-
inoles to war. Ambrister is found guilty of similar charges,
but the court recommends that he receive fifty lashes and
serve a year in prison. General Jackson reviews the find-
ings. He overrules the verdict of his own military court
in the case of Ambrister and orders that he be executed
with Arbuthnot. The sentences are duly carried out. Am-
brister is shot, and Arbuthnot swings from the limb of a
tree. The killings take place on the evening of April 29,
1 8 18. This affair, also, will plague him.

General Jackson believes the war is over. The Seminoles
are crushed. On his way homeward, having dismissed some
of his troops, he turns aside because he has heard that
some Indians have taken refuge in Pensacola. To that
place the General proceeds as fast as his horse can carry
him. It is May 24. Jackson deposes the Spanish govern-
ment, pulls down their flag and hoists the Stars and
Stripes over the royal "palace." The Spanish Governor
and his staff flee without bag or baggage to Barancas, on
the coast, for protection ; but Jackson pursues them, bom-
bards the place and ships the Governor and his aides off
to Havana. One may search history to find a parallel of
these despotic deeds.

General Jackson's force in Florida consisted of eighteen
hundred whites, and fifteen hundred friendly Indians. The
hostile Seminoles were never put at a higher number

262

MORE HOT WATER AND FLORIDA

than two thousand. The friendly Indians did most of the
fighting. They lost twenty men in the campaign. Not one
white soldier was killed. The Seminole casualties are placed
at sixty.

Jackson's actions have aroused President Monroe, his
Cabinet and Congress. There is talk in Washington of
bringing the General before a courtmartial. A committee
of the House reports a vote of censure, but the House re-
fuses to pass the resolution. Calhoun, still smarting under
Jackson's rebuke to himself and to the War Department,
expresses the opinion in a Cabinet meeting that Jackson
should be censured. Monroe is ready to disavow Jackson's
conduct in Florida, but John Quincy Adams, Secretary of
State, upholds the General and undertakes to assuage
Spain's injured feelings through the channels of diplo-
macy.

Finally, the Cabinet agrees that Pensacola and St.
Marks be restored to Spain, but that General Jackson's
course should be approved and defended on the ground
that he pursued the enemy to his refuge, and that Spain
could not do the duty which devolved upon her.

Every member of the Cabinet agrees to this policy, and
the secret of their first opinion is guarded for ten years,
when it explodes, the concussion toppling John C. Cal-
houn's life-long ambition — to be President of the United
States. He might easily have made the White House but
for his secret rebuke to Jackson, behind the General's
back, at that Cabinet session, which will finally be exposed
by William H. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, after

263

ANDREW JACKSON

his own hopes to attain the Presidency had gone ghmmer-
ing.

At the session of Congress, 1 818-19, the Florida matter
again comes up for debate. Henry Clay opens the batteries
of the opposition to Jackson's conduct, and thus begins
the feud between Jackson and Clay, which endures to the
dying day of the General, and, incidentally, probably kept
Clay from the Presidency. It was impossible for Clay to
suppress his disappointments. He had hoped Monroe
would name him Secretary of State, and thus put him in
line for the succession. As the Administration has de-
fended Jackson's conduct, that is sufficient reason for
Clay to assail him. In addition to this. Clay sees in Jack-
son another obstacle to his Presidential aspirations.

The General, being kept informed of the progress of the
debate in the House on the Florida matter, decides to go
to Washington and, if need be, defend himself. His in-
timate friends try to dissuade him. They fear the General
will regard Washington as only another battlefield. How-
ever, the General gallops down Pennsylvania Avenue on
January 27. He closets himself in a hotel, and receives
reports from his henchmen. On February 8, the House
acquits him of wrong doing, although a similar investiga-
tion is pending in the Senate.

The General embraces the interim to go visiting. In
Philadelphia the festivities in his honor last four days. In
New York the people go wild about him. The freedom of
the city is presented to him in a gold box, and Tammany
gives him a dinner in its best style. At Baltimore, the City
Council requests that he sit for his portrait. It is evident
from all this that Jackson is not merely a backwoods

264

HENRY CLAY

MORE HOT WATER AND FLORIDA

hero. His popularity is national, and apparently nothing
can dim his star, which is in the ascendant.

In a few days he is back in Washington, where the
Senate has begun to debate the Florida issue. Things are
said that Jackson does not like, and he is determined to
go to the Capitol and actually cut off the ears of any
Senator who speaks ill of him. He is prevented from
carrying out this threat by Commodore Stephen Decatur,
who meets the General storming up Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Senate's report is not brought in until the day Con-
gress adjourns, and it too late to debate it. Thus Jackson
is given a chance to cool off and Senatorial ears are spared.

In 1 819, the purchase of Florida is effected, and the
treaty is ratified on February 22, 1821. In April, Presi-
dent Monroe, still friendly to Jackson and desiring to
make reparations to him for the heavy bombardment that
he has been under, appoints Jackson Governor of Florida.
A little later, Jackson takes leave of the army. His military
career is over. He prepares a farewell address, after the
manner of General Washington — and turns his attention
to civil duties.

Nashville, Rachel, and the old boys who loiter about the
taverns talking horse talk — all are mighty proud of their
leading citizen. They say he cannot lose in anything.

265

Chapter XXI
GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

OLD HICKORY, whose hair has whitened with his
fifty-four years, has no heart for this Florida busi-
ness. On March 31, when he knew he was to be appointed
and had accepted, he wrote to his nephew, Andrew J.
Donelson :

*'I sincerely regret that I did not adhere to my first
determination not to accept the Government of Floridas,
your aunt appears very reluctant to go to that climate,
and really I am wearied with Public life. But it is too
late to look back, and I will organise the Government
and retire to private life. I know even in this I make
a great sacrafice ; but my word is out and I must comply
at any sacrafice. What may be my compensation I know
not but whatever it may be I am determined to spend it,
and to live within."

With Rachel, and the two Andrews — his adopted son
and nephew — the General leaves Nashville on April 18.
The party sails down the Mississippi, and at every wharf
the natives pays homage to the hero. It is one of the

266

GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

few times that Rachel has ventured from Tennessee, and
her impressions of the voyage and visit to New Orleans
are so vivid that she relies upon the Bible to express
them to Mrs. Eliza Kingsley, a neighbor :

"We arrived in this port within eight days from Nash-
ville. My health has somewhat improved in this warm
climate. We had not a very pleasant passage thither,
owing to so many passengers, nearly two hundred, more
than half negroes ; but how thankful should we be to our
Heavenly Father. In so many instances have I had cause
to praise his holy name. There is not an hour of our lives
but we are exposed to danger on this river.

"I will give you a faint description of this place. It re-
minds me of those words in Revelations : 'Great Babylon
is come up before me.' Oh, the wickedness, the idolatry
of this place! unspeakable* the riches and splendor. We
were met at the Natches and conducted to this place.
The house and furniture is so splendid I can't pretend a
description. The attention and honors paid to the Gen-
eral far excel a recital by my pen. They conducted him
to the Grand Theater; his box was decorated with ele-
gant hangings. At his appearance the theater rang with
loud acclamations, Vive Jackson. Songs of praise were
sung by ladies, and in the midst they crowned him with
a crown of laurel. The Lord has promised his humble
followers a crown that f adeth not ; the present one is al-
ready withered, the leaves are falling off. St. Paul says,
^A.11 things shall work together for good to them who are
in Jesus Christ.' I know I never was so tried before,
tempted, proved in all things. I know that my Redeemer

267

ANDREW JACKSON

liveth, and that I am his by covenant promise. I want you
to read the one hundred and thirty-seventh psalm. There
is not a day or night that I do not repeat it. Oh, for Zion !
I wept when I saw this idolatry. Think not, my dear
friend, that I am in the least unfaithful. It has a con-
trary effect . . . Say to my father in the gospel — Par-
son Blackburn — I shall always love him as such. Often
have I blessed the Lord that I was permitted to be called
under his ministry. Oh, farewell. Pray for your sister
in a heathen land, far from my people and church."

Rachel has romanced about the situation a trifle. Far
from being a Babylon, New Orleans at this time is a little
town — swampy and infested with malaria. The people
try to wear bright faces and make the best of it. Instead
of moaning and praying for relief to the moon and the
stars, they tackle the task themselves and whistle as they
work. It strikes Rachel as peculiar. She thinks God
should fill in the swamps and the people repair to their
churches and pray. On religion she is a little "off."

By July, the General and his wife reach Pensacola,
where the exchange of flags of the two nations formally
takes place and Florida passes from Spanish rule.

Jackson's powers as Governor of Florida are both
extraordinary and limited. His commission reads : *'Know
ye that, reposing special trust and confidence in the in-
tegrity, patriotism, and abilities of Major General An-
drew Jackson, I do appoint him to exercise all the powers
and authorities heretofore exercised by the Governor
and Captain General and Intendant of Cuba, and by the
Governors of East and West Florida ; provided, however,

268

GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

that the said Andrew Jackson, or any other person acting
under him, or in the said territories, shall have no power
or authority to lay or collect any new or additional taxes,
or to grant or confirm to any person or persons, whom-
soever, any title or claims to land within the same."

Governor Jackson, however, proceeds to appoint mayors
and aldermen of the various towns and cities, and em-
powers them, despite the specific wording of his com-
mission, ''to levy such taxes as may be necessary for
the support of the town government." St. Augustine is
most ambitious in enforcing the new levies, and in later
years the Governor's enemies will charge that he vio-
lated his commission by taking the matter of taxation
into his own hands before he had been in Florida a
month.

What Rachel calls "profaning the Sabbath" is espe-
cially painful to her. She had written to a neighbor in
Nashville that on the Sabbath she had heard ''a great
deal of noise and swearing on the street. They were so
boistrous that I sent Major Stanton to say to them that
the approaching Sunday would be differently kept. Yes-
terday I had the happiness of witnessing the truth of
what I had said. Great order was observed; the doors
kept shut; the gambling houses demolished; fiddling and
dancing not heard any more on the Lord's day; cursing
could not be heard."

The blue Sunday to which Rachel refers was her per-
sonal victory. She had complained to the Governor, and
that was all he required to ordain that henceforth the

269

ANDREW JACKSON

theaters and gaming houses and shops were to be closed
on Sundays. Peculiar action for a man who had raced
horses, fought cocks and played cards on Sunday, or any
other day, that he could get a sportsman to take his bet!
Peculiar also for Rachel, who had been a daring and
adventuresome young woman of the frontier with young
blades who, it might be supposed, were not too circum-
spect in keeping holy the Sabbath Day.

The Governor starts to organize his government. Most
of the Spaniards have quit the territory. Former Gov-
ernor Don Jose Callava and a few of his officers and
servants remain. Americans begin to pour into Florida.
Speculators are as thick as flies in the territory. For some
reason, Florida will always be a gilded boon for realtors.

But the Governor is no sooner launched upon his
duties, than he suffers a rude awakening. Rachel lets the
cat out of the bag in another of her letters.

'There never was a man more disappointed than the
General has been. In the first place he has not the power
to appoint one of his friends, which, I thought, was in
part the reason of his coming." A month later, Rachel
writes: 'The General, I think, is the most anxious man
to get home I ever saw. He calls it a wild-goose chase,
his coming here. Oh Lord, forgive, if thy will, all those
my enemies that had an agency in the matter. Many wan-
der about like lost sheep; all have been disappointed in
offices. Crage has a constable's place of no value. The
President made all the appointments, and sent them from
the city of Washington."

Governor Jackson was beseiged by a horde of hungry

270

GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

job seekers. They followed him into Florida, and he had
fully expected to repay his friends with federal patron-
age.

In September, 1821, Jackson resolves to quit his post
the following month. "I am determined to resign my of-
fice the moment Congress meets and live near you the
balance of my life," he writes to Captain John Donelson,
his brother-in-law, at Nashville.

The Governor ,who, influenced by his wife's piety, for-
bids Sabbath amusement, permits two young army of-
ficers to fight a fatal duel in the streets of Pensacola.
Jackson still believes in pistols. Rachel has not yet con-
vinced him that it is wrong to take human life. She has
only persuaded him that it is evil to speak loudly on the
Lord's day. The man who was killed had used a hair
trigger pistol which had stopped at half cock. When this
is brought to the Governor's attention he waxes wroth.

"Damn that pistol," he fumes. *'By God, to think that
a brave man should risk his life on a hair trigger!" The
Governor advises the slayer to depart from Pensacola;
nothing more is done about the matter.

The last of the Spanish governors, Colonel Callava,
who remains in Pensacola to wind up his affairs, soon
incurs the Governor's dislike, although the Don appar-
ently is innocent. Certain persons represent to the Gov-
ernor that papers necessary for the protection of their
interests are being packed up by the former Spanish
ruler to be taken away. There have been other complaints

271

ANDREW JACKSON

against the Spaniards for granting land between the
making and the ratification of the treaty, and Governor
Jackson believes these charges. Those who come to him
for aid are poor. The Governor rises to the occasion with
a full measure of chivalry and impetuosity.

"By the Eternal, these Dons shall not rob a poor
widow," he declares and bangs the table a mighty whack
with his fist. He dispatches a letter to Callava, demanding
the return of the papers in question. The Don asks, "What
papers?" and refuses to surrender any documents unless
they are identified, and described. The papers are actually
supposed to be in the possession of Domingo Sousa, Cal-
lava's aid. In any case, Jackson orders the arrest of the
former Spanish Governor and his aid, Sousa, and throws
them both into prison.

But Callava's friends are not idle. They apply to Eli-
gius Fromentin, United States Judge for the western dis-
trict of Florida, for a writ of habeas corpus for the release
of Callava and his aid. The Judge grants it, where-
upon Jackson summons the United States Judge to his
office to show cause v/hy he had dared to interfere with
his authority as Governor of Florida, with the powers
of the Captain General of Cuba, Supreme Judge and
Chancellor. General Jackson omits none of his titles that
suggest his power. Fromentin pleads illness, but a few
days later he encounters the Governor and a violent in-
terview ensues, which results in both the Governor and
the Judge bombarding President Monroe with statements
of their side of the case.

Meanwhile, a few of Callava's friends come to his de-

2^2

GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA

fence and have published in a Pensacola newspaper a
statement upholding the Don. Jackson ascertains the
names of the subscribers to the statement and expels them
from Florida at four days' notice, threatening them with
arrest for contempt if they are in the Territory after
that time.

It is October. Governor Jackson and Rachel pack up
their baggage and depart. Old Hickory is thoroughly dis-
gusted with his job. It is the sixth time that he has re-
signed a civil office. He definitely does not like them.
President Monroe and Secretary Adams both secretly
are pleased that Jackson has seen fit to retire. Secretary
Adams tells to a close friend that he had dreaded open-
ing the mail from Florida, not knowing what Jackson
would do next.

Earlier in his Administration, President Monroe had
it in mind to offer Jackson the portfolio as Minister to
Russia. He consulted Jefferson. ''My God," Jefferson ex-
claimed, ''you will have a war on your hands inside of
a month."

In the first week of November, the General and his
wife are home again. He swears he will not leave Nash-
ville, and will never again hold a public office. For the
next two years he is successful in carrying out his wish
for private life.

But the General's career is not of his own choice from
now on. He is in the hands of ambitious President-
makers. Jackson does not covet that office. His friends
covet it for him. They are determined that they shall
tame the tiger and train him for his high destiny.

273

ANDREW JACKSON

The General and Rachel sip their mint julep and puff
their reed pipes in the cool of the evenings, neither quite
knowing what is in store for them both. Jackson is a
tired man. Rachel tries to prepare him for God. Others
are preparing him for the White House.

274

Chapter XXII
THE STATESMAN EMERGES

WHILE General Jackson is quietly resting at the
Hermitage, Major Lewis and Major Eaton, the
latter now United States Senator from Tennessee, are
putting forth "feelers" in Jackson's behalf for the
Presidency at the next election — 1824. They do not con-
fine their ''soundings" to the leaders, many of whom are
definitely opposed to the General as a candidate (some
of them because they are candidates themselves), but cir-
culate, unobtrusively, their promptings among the rank
and file, the common people — artisans, farmers and la-
borers, whose imagination and admiration Jackson has
captured. He must win the support of this element, his
trainers agree, or fail to achieve the Presidency.

Lewis is in Nashville, keeping a close watch upon the
General and his correspondence. From now on he must
not be permitted to engage in dueling, either with words
or pistols. Major Lewis has assigned himself the task
of seeing that Jackson conducts himself as a statesman.
His speeches and letters on public questions from now
on, or nearly so, will be edited by Major Lewis or Major
Henry Lee, half brother of Robert E. Lee, sons of Gen-

275

ANDREW JACKSON

eral Henry Lee, of the Revolution. Major Lee is a facile
writer. He knows Jackson's fiery thoughts and is emi-
nently competent to compose them for either speeches or
letters. One of Jackson's addresses delivered at New Or-
leans in 1815 is credited to Lee's pen.

There was, however, a special reason for Lee's attach-
ment to Old Hickory. In the prime of his life Lee and
his wife's sister promoted an amour. The neighbors hear-
ing of the affair turned bitterly upon the Major, who
decided he might have more peace in a distant community.

Lee went straight to Jackson and confessed his in-
discretion. The General forgave him, both out of respect
for the memory of General Lee, and because he himself
had been pestered by gossip due to the irregularity of
his own marital affairs. Moreover, Jackson was generous
enough to see that Lee could not possibly have been the
sole offender against the code. The lady must have been
willing, thought the General. So Lee was duly installed
as one of Jackson's copyists and composers. Jackson's
first Inaugural Address also is credited to Lee.

At Washington, Senator Eaton is watching the polit-
ical winds. He keeps Lewis, at Nashville, duly informed
of all that transpires which might have an effect, for good
or ill, upon the forthcoming candidacy of Andrew Jack-
son. The stalwart oppositionists to Jackson at the Capital
do not yet know what the whisperings foretell.

The General's candidacy is actually launched in 1822,
in Nashville. Colonel Wilson, editor of the "Nashville
Gazette," has sounded the tocsin. Pennsylvania is the
second state to take up the cause for "Jackson for Presi-

276

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

dent." Major Lewis has paid a visit to North CaroHna
and virtually obtained the pledges of leading Democrats
in that state, including his father-in-law, Senator Mont-
fort Stokes, that they will support Jackson's candidacy
provided Calhoun can be induced to withdraw from the
race.

The other candidates are Henry Clay, of Kentucky,
Speaker of the House of Representatives; John Quincy
Adams, of Massachusetts, Secretary of State; and Wil-
liam H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury.
It is an unheard of thing for a man outside the Wash-
ington and Congressional cliques to put forth his candi-
dacy for the White House. What chance has he, any-
way? The day of party conventions has not yet arrived,
and up to this time Congress holds a caucus and selects
the candidates, who then go before the people. But for
a long time King Caucus, as the system is popularly
called, has been in disrepute. There is a well founded
belief among the people that Congress has usurped their
rights; that it agrees far in advance who the candidates
shall be; that a candidate must first pledge he will make
certain Cabinet appointments, and that one of these ap-
pointees, or possibly two, will be in line for the succession
to the Presidency.

General Jackson, of course, has friends in Congress,
but the Tennesseean himself cannot be considered a candi-
date because none have placed him in line ''for the suc-
cession." Therefore, if he is to win, he must dethrone
King Caucus, and obtain popular support. Neither of
these is an easy task. The country is still without rail-

277

ANDREW JACKSON

roads. Mails are provokingly irregular and letters reach
their destination weeks, sometimes months, after they
are posted.

It is true, a vigorous press has grown up in many
states and communities. The editors of many of these
newspapers, having an eye to building up a healthy circu-
lation in communities that are far from prosperous, are
not slow to realize that the people are weary of being dic-
tated to by Congress in the matter of Presidential candi-
dates. Moreover, in states removed from New England
and Virginia, there is a deep feeling that it might be
good for the country to select a man uncontrolled either
by Congress or the financial interests of the East. Such a
man, all agree (except the moneyed interests and Con-
gress) is Andrew Jackson, called a Westerner in 1823.

Jackson's friends realize that his own state must take
the initiative in putting the General forward as an avowed
candidate. Accordingly, on July 20, 1822, the legislature
adopts resolutions indorsing their leading citizen for that
high office. Rachel is chagrined. It means nothing to her,
except that the General will be away from home again,
and possibly in more hot water. Jackson has mixed emo-
tions. When he quit the governorship of Florida he be-
lieved that he was coming home to die. His health had
been wretched for six years, and no doubt accounted for
a certain amount of the persistency with which he pur-
sued his enemies, and his irascibility generally. But cer-
tainly not all, perhaps not even a half, of Jackson's vio-
lent tempers may be ascribed to his various illnesses,

278

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

which have greatly depleted his strength and all but
wrecked his constitution. He is naturally a fighting Irish-
man, with a leaven of Scotch tenacity that enables him
to see his battles through to the always bitter end.

General Jackson has definite views with respect to the
honor that has been paid him by Tennessee. Writing to
his nephew, Andrew, a few weeks later, he says :

"I did not visit murfreesborough (the capital of Ten-
nessee from 1 819-1825) as was anticipated, nor do I
intend; casually, it being hinted to me, that it was in-
tended by some of my friends to bring my name before
the nation, as a fit person to fill the Presidential chair, by
a resolution of the Legislature, I declined going to the
Legislature at all, well knowing if I did, that it would
be said by my enemies, that such a resolution was pro-
duced with my procurement, never having been a ap-
licant for any office I have filled, and having long since
determined that I never would, I intend in the presence
instance to pursue the same independant, republican
course. They people have the right to elect whom they
think proper, and every individual composing the repub-
lic, when they people require his services, is bound to
render it, regardless of his own opinion, of his unfitness
for the oflfice he is called to fill.

''I have reed many letters from every quarter of the
united states on this subject; I have answered none, nor
do I intend to answer any, I shall leave the people free
to adopt such a course as they may think proper . . .
without any influence of mine exercised by me; I have
only one wish on this subject, that they people of the

279

ANDREW JACKSON

united states may in their selection of an individual to
fill the Presidential chair, do it with an eye solely to the
prosperity of the union, the perpetuation of their own
happiness, and the durability of their republican form of
government. Believe me my Dr Andrew that I never
had a wish to be elevated to that station if I could, my
sole ambition is to pass to my grave in retirement . . ."

This letter, written with great feeling and sincerity,
escaped the censorial pencils of Majors Lewis and Lee.

It soon becomes apparent to the trainers that Tennessee
must be held in line at all costs. On the whole, Jackson's
popularity throughout the state is tremendous. There
are even sections where a man would speak against him
at the risk of his hide; but in East Tennessee there is
much opposition.

It is 1823. Colonel John Williams, of Knoxville, who
has been United States Senator since 181 5, is up for
re-election. WilHams is Jackson's enemy. In 1819 he sup-
ported the resolution in the Senate to censure Jackson
for invading Florida in the Seminole War; he has ridi-
culed the action of the Tennessee legislature in nominat-
ing Jackson, declaring it would not be seriously supported
by the people of the state. Major Lewis and Senator
Eaton decide that Williams must be defeated. He intends
to make his campaign partly on an anti-Jackson platform
and unless he is stopped, they fear the people will not seri-
ously consider Jackson's candidacy, as they will believe

280

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

the General lacks the support even of his own state.

Lewis and Eaton look about for a strong Jackson man
to defeat Colonel Williams. They canvass the list, and
finally conclude that no Jackson man can possibly defeat
Williams except Jackson himself. They tell the General
that he must stand as a candidate for the United States
Senate. He is to be thrust out of his peaceful lair once
more. The tiger growls ominously, but consents to per-
form.

The General's managers are fairly certain in advance
of the meeting of the legislature in October, 1823, that
they can muster enough votes to defeat Colonel Williams.
When the ballots are counted there are only twenty-five
against Jackson, who is declared elected. Only three of
the twenty-five who opposed him are re-elected to the next
legislature.

In November, the Senator-elect packs his bags, and
with Rachel proceeds to Washington, where he will take
his seat in December. No more for yet awhile the quiet
evenings at^ the Hermitage, chatting with old cronies,
or else puffing his pipe with Rachel and listening to her
nieces play the harp and sing '^\uld Lang Syne." Another
of Jackson's favorite songs is "Scots Wha Hae Wi' Wal-
lace Bled." His eyes become bright with battle fire as he
listens to the martial words :

''Scots wha hae wi Wallace bled,
Scots, whom Bruce has aft en led.
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or on to victory!

281

ANDREW JACKSON

Now's the day, and now's the hour!
See the front of battle low'r,
See approach proud Edward's power.
Chains and slavery!

'Wha will be a traitor knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland's king and law,
Freedom's sword will strongly draw.
Free-man stand, or free-man fa'?
Let him follow me!"

There Is scarcely an evening when the halls of the
Hermitage have not resounded with song and music,
with romping and rollicking children, and the deep laugh-
ter of old warriors regaling each other with battle talk.
The General is the center of this good humor. One sees
him sprint through the deep rooms in pursuit of a frisky
child; now he is leaning over the shoulder of a pretty
young woman, trying to follow the music and hum the
tune as she sings it. After these impromptu affairs the
women invariably gather around him and thrust into his
hand their autograph albums. Often he writes into them :
"When I can read my title clear," and signs it, "Andrew
Jackson."

But not many know this side of the General. His fame
has spread to virtually every town and hamlet in the
country. Even children know that he is the hero of the
Battle of New Orleans. His home circle knows him as

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

being gentle. The world regards him as savage. Many
mothers have told their children some awful tales about
Jackson. In the homes of people who regard his deeds
lightly, and believe the worst tales about him, they use
his name as a bugaboo and a threat to mischievous chil-
dren. In the old line, ^'Goblins will get you if you don't
watch out," the name '"J^^kson" has been often substi-
tuted for ''goblins."

In New York, a Sunday-School teacher asked the pu-
pils if they could tell who killed Abel. Quick as light, a
youngster replied, ''General Jackson."

The General takes his seat in the Senate. He is the
embodiment of dignity and decorum. He has a double
role to play — Senator and Presidential candidate. He
knows, as do many others, that his Senatorship is only
for the purpose of throwing into relief his aspirations for
the higher office. The General now is in the hands of
Senator Eaton, who pilots him about Washington, sees
that he is comfortable, and keeps a weather eye on his
colleague's conduct. But this is scarcely necessary at this
period.

Another task of Eaton is to find suitable and promi-
nent persons to "question" Jackson about his views on
national topics — especially the tariff, which is one of the
major issues. For publicity purposes, Eaton prepares
Jackson's opinions in advance on these questions, which
are duly sent to friendly newspapers about the same time
that his "questioner" receives Jackson's answer. Jack-
son's campaign managers are probably the first in the

283

ANDREW JACKSON

country to adopt these publicity methods. The boiler-plate
interviews are not suspected even by such astute politicians
as Clay, Calhoun and Adams.

Senator Jackson has a fairly comprehensive idea of
what is going on among the Presidential aspirants and
their backers. He instinctively recoils from the artifices
of politicians. He is the sole candidate for the Presidency
who, at this moment, will be much relieved if another
secures the election. He definitely does not w^ant the office,
while all the others are hungering for it. Still, he plays the
game.

Lewis at Nashville, and Livingston at New Orleans,
fail in their efforts to have the Louisiana legislature in-
dorse Jackson's candidacy. Louisiana remembers only
Jackson's establishing martial law, and forgets the Bat-
tle of New Orleans. In Pennsylvania, however, where
Calhoun's strength is impressive, Jackson is nominated
both by the Federalist and the Democratic parties. Jack-
son's letter to Monroe in 1816, urging him to appoint
Drayton, a Federalist, as Secretary of War, has been
made public and is bearing fruit among the Federalists.
The General's letter, actually written by Lewis, was put
forth for precisely this purpose. The far-sighted Lewis!

Chief among the candidates, it might be presumed, is
John Quincy Adams, fifty-seven years old, son of the
second President. Adams is actively disliked by all the
politicians. He is called a "Tory" by many. He is a New
England aristocrat who distrusts the people. He has the
smallest and least active corps of w^orkers. Most people
agree he has made a good Secretary of State. His man-
ners are frigid and he has few friends. But he is probably

284

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

more cultured than all the other candidates combined.

Calhoun, of South Carolina, is forty-two years old.
He is called the ''young man's candidate." In 1817, he
took the War Department and brought order out of
chaos. He has a following in New England, New York,
Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and other sections scattered
throughout the South. Calhoun has the Presidential itch.
He dreams day and night of sleeping in the White House.
He fears Jackson, although for several years he has writ-
ten honeyed letters to him. Jackson would like to regard
Calhoun as his friend, but he distrusts him.

Unconsciously, both men are carrying meat axes which
they will wield against each other at the proper time.
Webster prefers Calhoun to all the other candidates.
Daniel is opposed to Jackson, regards his candidacy as
ridiculous and the possibility of his election as a national
calamity. Webster is one of the men whom Jackson would
have hanged for participating in the Hartford Conven-
tion which denounced the War of 181 2.

William H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the
Treasury, has been seeking the nomination for eight
years. He is fifty- two years old, and began his political
career as a Federalist. He has been accused of corruptly
using treasury funds to aid his political stock. The House
exonerated him. Crawford was regarded as the "regular"
candidate until September, 1823, when he suffered a se-
vere stroke of paralysis. From then on it was believed
he was out of the race, but he refused to withdraw his
name. Jackson has called Crawford "a scoundaral." Craw-
ford regards Jackson as "a bad noise."

Henry Clay, of Kentucky, twice Speaker of the House,

285

ANDREW JACKSON

is the most astute politician of them all. He, too, has been
stung quadrennially by the Presidential bee. He was
strongly opposed to the re-charter of the first Bank of
the United States. He has repeatedly urged recognition
of the small South American republics. He was one of
the American commissioners who drafted the Treaty of
Ghent. He lost considerable sums in gambling and for
three years retired from public life to rehabilitate his
fortune. Jackson once admired Clay and read his speeches
in the House religiously. Jackson w^as especially impressed
by Clay's opposition to the Bank. Now Jackson hates
Clay. The animosity dates from Clay's speech in Con-
gress denouncing Jackson's conduct in Florida. Clay
declares that no military hero, no man on horse back
should become President. He regards Jackson as a despot.

Webster observes Jackson in the Senate. The General's
courtly bearing wins the admiration of all who see him.
The ladies of Washington daily flock to the galleries
merely to peer down upon the conqueror about whom
they have heard terrible stories. They have come expect-
ing to see a gorilla chained to the floor of the Senate. The
sight of him completely upsets their previous notions
of him, and he wins their approval. They wonder what
his wife is like! Webster writes : "General Jackson's man-
ners are more Presidential than those of any of the candi-
dates. He is grave, mild and reserved. My wife is for
him decidedly." Quite so. Jackson's personality has a
click which all the others lack.

The House holds its caucus on February 14, 1824. The
candidates are duly put forward. There is much attempt
at political jobbery. The queerest combinations are sug-

286

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

gested; one of these is to let Adams have the Presidency
and bury Jackson in the Vice Presidency.

Jackson's friends laugh it off the boards. They will
have the Presidency for the General or nothing.

The result of the electoral vote in the Fall is a sur-
prise to the politicians as v^ell as to the country. Jackson
receives ninety-nine votes; Adams, eighty-four; Craw-
ford, forty-one; Clay, thirty-seven. Calhoun receives one
hundred and eighty-two votes for the Vice Presidency.
He decides it is wise to have something assured, so he
retires from the Presidential race. The popular vote for
President is as follows: Jackson, 155,800; Adams, 105,-
300; Clay, 46,500; Crawford, 44,200.

Jackson has failed to obtain a majority of the electoral
votes, and the contest is thrown into the House of Repre-
sentatives, where intrigue now commences. Clay with-
draws from the race. For months there is scarcely a
prominent man in Washington but who is not supposed
to be connected with the wholesale bargaining. Clay has
several interviews with Adams. It is known that Clay
will never support Jackson. Crawford is out of the race
on account of his illness. The vote in the House takes
place February 9, 1825. Clay throws his support to Adams.
On the first ballot, Adams receives the votes of thirteen
states, Jackson of seven, Crawford of four. Adams is de-
clared elected President of the United States.

Jackson bears his defeat with good grace until it is
announced that Clay is to be Secretary of State. Coupled
with this announcement is the report brought to Jackson

287

ANDREW JACKSON

that Clay had bargained with Adams for the portfoHo
of Secretary of State in exchange for Clay's support in
the House. Clay's appointment appears logical, despite
"a bargain." Among those connected with the "bargain"
story is James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania. Jackson asks
for no proof. He believes the worst, and is thoroughly
aroused. What he has seen at the Capitol has filled him
w^ith horror. "I would rather remain a plain cultivator
of the soil, as I am," he exclaims to a friend, ''than to
occupy that which is truly the first office in the world,
if the voice of the nation was against it." This was meant
for Adams.

Previously, Jackson believed Adams to be *'an honest,
virtuous man." He does not believe so now. His hatred
for Clay is at white heat. It is not wholly because Clay
threw his support to Adams, but because, in doing so,
Jackson believes Clay deliberately bargained for an office
which he hoped would lift him toward the White House.
In Jackson's eyes such an act is utterly immoral. Quite
aside from his own personal and political fortunes, Jack-
son thinks that, since he received the top vote in the pop-
ular balloting, and also in the electoral college, the House
should have respected the wishes of the people and voted
for the candidate who obviously was their choice.

The General is disgusted with politics. He remains in
Washington until the middle of March, 1825, when he
takes leave of the Senate and goes home, resigning as
United States Senator.

Jackson is now more determined than ever that cor-
ruption shall be brought to an end at Washington. He
declares the Presidency shall not be bargained for in the

288

THE STATESMAN EMERGES

future, and that the will of the people must be respected,
even by Congress. The cry goes up over the land : 'Turn
the rascals out!"

The campaign of 1828 has started even before Adams
has taken the oath of office. Jackson's friends are jubilant.
The General stands squarely before the country as the
winning candidate who was "jobbed" out of the Presi-
dency. He is the avowed defender of the people's will.

''Jackson For President!" "Hurrah For Jackson!"
These slogans ring in the ears of the statesmen at Wash-
ington attending the inauguration of John Quincy Adams.

289

Chapter XXIII
THE PRESIDENT

THE strength which Andrew Jackson developed in
1824 as the people's candidate has convinced his
political enemies in 1828 that he cannot be defeated
on political issues alone. It is not a question of the
choice of political parties. It is Jackson the man versus
everybody and everything that is opposed to his election.
President Adams is a party man; as a personality, the
country knows little about him. His Administration has
been conducted on a high plane of American statesman-
ship. None but Jackson and his party believes for a mo-
ment that Adams was capable of entering into a corrupt
bargain with Clay, or any one else. But Adams is unpopu-
lar. He is frigid. He is a New England, blue-blooded aris-
tocrat who thoroughly believes in rule by ''the educated
class." Theoretically, he indorses democracy ; but plebeian
voices pain his ears and he instinctively recoils from them.
Jackson stands for much that Adams distrusts. The
imperialist of the battlefield is now the defender of de-
mocracy. This is no pose with Jackson. Sprung from the
loins of tenant farmers and linen drapers in Ireland, he
is in the truest sense a man of the people. Strip Jackson

290

THE PRESIDENT

of his imperious will, and he becomes at once an unlet-
tered peasant. His father wielded pick and shovel in try-
ing to subdue the wilderness. His mother assisted him
and later became a seamstress and chambermaid in the
home of her relatives. Jackson had keener wits. He se-
lected different w^eapons to tame the wilderness so that
whites might live in peace, plenty and security. With such
talents as he possesses he succeeded, and then reached out
to defend with all his power the new civilization on the
American continent. His guns helped to secure it.

His enemies comb his record, public and private, for
every morsel of scandal and wrongdoing that attaches
to his name. They discover numerous public acts which
are open to serious question, and some that cannot be ex-
plained away by his shrewdest advisers. His enemies
chortle in informing the country through the conserva-
tive press, handbills, and even hostile ''biographies" of
Jackson, that wherever he has held civil or military office
his conduct invariably has been tyrannical. They list him
among the world's despots.

One of the handbills, printed in Philadelphia, exploits
Jackson's military excesses ; this tract is embroidered wath
the pictures of six coffins to symbolize the execution of
six militiamen at Mobile in 1815, after the war was over.
He is called a murderer for his fatal duel with Dickinson
in 1806. They name him a hangman because of the Ar-
buthnot and Ambrister killings in Florida.

Still, not content, his foes hurl their charges at the
Hermitage, calling Mrs. Jackson an adulteress and her
husband an adulterer. For months the country is regaled
with the episodes attending the General's marriage, and

291

ANDREW JACKSON

it is all that Major Lewis, Major Lee and Senator Eaton
can do to restrain Jackson from going on the war-path
with his pistols. Any number of times he has wanted
to throw discretion, and the certainty of his election,
to the winds and hunt down his detractors — more to
avenge the pain and tears that these charges cause Rachel
than to bring satisfaction to himself. But the old warrior
is made to hold his peace until he is firmly seated in
the White House. Then, if he wishes, he may square
these accounts — but not with pistols.

In the two years between his retirement from the Sen-
ate and 1827, he has been surfeited with such honors as
have come to no other man in the history of the young
republic. He is treated not only as a conqueror because
of his military valor, but also as the next President.

In the Summer of 1825, when the General returned
from Washington with Rachel, he was again nominated
for the Presidency by the Tennessee legislature. In the
following year his candidacy was indorsed by a huge
mass meeting in Philadelphia. Martin Van Buren, United
States Senator from New York, who supported Craw-
ford in 1824, is prepared to swing New York into the
Jackson column. In January, 1828, Jackson accepts the
invitation of the Louisiana legislature to attend the an-
niversary of the Battle of New Orleans.

Jackson now actively solicits the support of the voters.
He is determined not only to ''turn the rascals out," but
to drag them in the dust after they are out. Louisiana
gives him her vote in 1828. He has friendly editors at
strategic points. In Kentucky, Amos Kendall and Fran-
cis P. Blair, both formerly friendly to the fortunes of

292

THE PRESIDENT

Clay, have dedicated their newspaper to Jackson's cause.
In New England, Isaac Hill is trumpeting the virtues
of the General in the "New Hampshire Patriot." In New
York, the ''Courier and Journal" is a pro-Jackson news-
paper. At Washington, Duff Green is doing yeoman serv-
ice for Jackson as editor of the "United States Tele-
graph." Kendall, Hill and Blair, with Major Lewis, are
destined to become the invisible power in helping to shape
the policies of the Jackson reign.

Social and industrial questions are becoming acute in
the country, and thousands of workingmen look to Jack-
son for "a. square deal" should he become President. In
many sections workers are cheated out of their wages by
absconding contractors, or paid in worthless scrip. The
hours of labor begin at sunrise and end at sunset. Thou-
sands are in debtors' prisons. Free schools are few and
far between, and those that do exist carry with them the
stigma of pauperism for the children of the workers.
The old English laws are invoked to punish labor or-
ganizations as conspiracies. In many sections property
qualifications exclude the workers from voting. The is-
sues from the standpoint of the laboring, artisan and
farming classes are public education, abolition of impris-
onment for debt, equal taxation, cheaper legal proce-
dure, abolition of conspiracy laws against labor unions,
abolition of child labor, and opposition to the chartered
Bank and monopolies.

One of the main issues is free public schools. Agitation
for them has encountered firm opposition from the

293

ANDREW JACKSON

wealthy and educated classes. In many sections of the
country newspapers owned by wealthy persons persist-
ently attack free education as class legislation and in-
compatible with the well being of society. There are
debtor prisons in all the larger cities. Thirty-two prisons
in 1830 report 2,841 debtors imprisoned for sums under
twenty dollars. Seventy-five thousand free Americans are
hauled away to jails aimually for debt. Of course, they
are working men. In their absence their wives and chil-
dren are recruited for the mills and factories, at less pay
than the men received.

The common people, then, look to Andrew Jackson to
abolish these conditions, or at least ameliorate them. By
1825 industry had developed to a considerable extent, and
trades are brought into being that were unknown to
the Colonial period. Social and economic laws of the
United States have not changed to meet this new labor
problem, and the sufferers are the working classes. Wages
vary from twenty-five cents to seventy-five cents a day
for twelve hours' work. Brothels spring up beside the
factories to an alarming extent. In 1829, the Working-
men's Party is organized in New York, and the "class
struggle" is recognized in America twenty years before
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels write their "Commu-
nist Manifesto." Not until 1840, will the ten-hour day be
established for public works, and it will remain for Presi-
dent Van Buren to so proclaim it. Not until 1842 will
imprisonment for debt be abolished in New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Connecticut, Indiana and Tennessee.

Unemployment, poverty, long hours of labor, small
wages, ghastly living conditions for the workers in the

294

THE PRESIDENT

cities are sending thousands from the East into the west-
ern states for relief. It is these people, long weary and
agitated by the gross indifference on the part of the priv-
ileged class and the administrations to their lot, who now
turn to Jackson and the Democratic Party for relief. It
is the laboring class and the farmers in the United States
who are throwing their hats into the air and shouting,
''Hurrah for Jackson !"

But Jackson, however deep his sympathies may lie with
the weak and the poor, is surely no student of social, eco-
nomic and industrial conditions in the republic.

President Adams, Secretary Clay and their followers
believe the Administration ticket will win at the polls.
King Caucus is dead. Congress no longer has the power
to foist its candidate upon the people and force his
election. General Jackson dethroned King Caucus in 1824.
In 1828 there are but two candidates: Adams and Jack-
son.

There are two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes.
One hundred and thirty-one constitutes a majority. One
hundred and seventy-eight are cast for General Jack-
son, eighty-three for Adams. Calhoun receives one hun-
dred and seventy-one votes for Vice President. Through-
out the United States bonfires are lighted, impromptu
parades are formed and mobs march through the streets
singing the praises of Old Hickory. Hundreds of wealthy
people remain in their homes behind barred doors. The
rising of the masses makes them fearful and sick.

In Nashville there is special rejoicing everywhere —
except at the Hermitage. General Jackson sits by the
fire smoking his pipe. Mrs. Jackson remarks to Major

295

ANDREW JACKSON

Lewis: *Well, for Mr. Jackson's sake, I am glad; for
my own, I never wished it."

There has not been a day during the campaign that
Rachel Jackson has not felt the sting of the General's
enemies. Both her witless friends and his foes have made
doubly sure that she would see the dreadful slanders in
the opposition press. In the Summer of 1828, she writes
to a friend and refers to the campaign. (This letter has
escaped the editorial pens which hitherto have dressed
up Rachel's writing. ) The letter :

"My dear friend: It is a Long time since you wrote
me a Line But having so favourable an oppertunity by
Major Smith I could not Deny my self that pleasure : for
rest asured my Dear friend you are as Dear to me as a
Sister. I am denyd maney pleasures and comforts in this
Life and that is one and Sister Hays and her famoly
your Famaly with Hers would have been my joy in this
world but alas you ar all far from me, well the apostle
says I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me.
I can say my soule can bear testimony to the truth of that
Gospel for who has been so cruelly tryd as I have my
mind by trials hav been severe, the enemys of the Genls
have dipt their arrows in wormwood and gall and sped
them at me Almighty God was there ever anything to
equal it. My old acquentances wer as much hurt as if it
was themselves or Daughters, to think that thirty years
had passed in happy social friendship with society, know-

296

THE PRESIDENT

ing or thinking no ill to no one — as my judg will know
— how maney prayers have I ofered up for their repent-
ance — but wo unto them of offences Come theay have
Disquieted one that theay had no rite to do theay have
offended God and man — in as much as you offend one of
the Least of my little ones you offend me Now I leave
them to them selves I feare them not I fear Him that
can kill the Body and cast the soule into Hellfire. o Etur-
nity awful is the name. . . ." etc.

Rachel's health has been precarious for four or five
years. She has frequently complained of pain in the re-
gion of the heart. Very often during the campaign friends
have found her in tears, pacing the floor and rubbing her
side. The General may only guess how deeply the thrusts
of his enemies have wrenched the heart of his beloved
Rachel, whose name has been dragged before the public,
held up to contempt and ridicule, and branded as that
of an adulteress.

The women of Nashville, who have known her as a
pious and kindly neighbor for more than thirty years,
try to console her. They decide to assemble in a sewing
circle every afternoon and prepare for her a handsome
wardrobe suitable for the First Lady of the Land.

It is December 17. Old Hannah is in the kitchen pre-
paring dinner. The President-elect is in the fields, looking
over his crops, his colts, and talking with his slaves, who
are oblivious of their servitude in the presence of their
master. Old Hannah calls Mrs. Jackson into the kitchen
to receive her opinion on some article of food that is

297

ANDREW JACKSON

being prepared. Rachel returns to the sitting room, utters
a terrible cry and sinks into a chair, clutching at her heart.
For sixty hours she struggles for life.

The General is beside himself with anxiety. He does
not leave her bedside for as much as ten minutes. In a
few days her agony subsides. She feels better, and insists
that the General attend the elaborate banquet on the
twenty-third that the citizens of Nashville are planning in
his honor. It will be the most festive tribute that Tennessee
has ever paid to Andrew Jackson, who has held virtually
every honor within the gift of the state; whose march
toward the Presidency started among these simple people
of the Cumberland when the Republic was an infant.

On the evening of the twenty-second, Rachel says she
feels better. The General bids her good night and re-
tires to his room for a little sleep. Five minutes later he
hears a terrible shriek, loud and long. He rushes into her
room. Rachel is in the arms of Old Hannah. She does
not speak again.

Jackson does not believe Rachel is dead. He sits on
the side of the bed, holding her hands until they grow
cold. Still he is not convinced. The doctor and the house
servants place the body on a table. ^'Spread four blankets
upon it," commands the husband. 'Tf she does come to,
she will lie so hard upon the table."

All through the night, Jackson sits in the room by the
side of the form he loved so dearly. His face rests heavily
in the palms of his hands which now and then sweep
wearily through his snow white hair. Dawn tiptoes
through the windows of the Hermitage. Black forms

THE PRESIDENT

press their faces against the panes and withdraw. The
General has not stirred from the side of his beloved dead.

'The mistus was more a mother to us than a mis-
tus," wails Old Hannah. "And the same we say of the
mastah. He is more a father to us than a mastah, for
he helps us out of our troubles."

They carry Rachel's body to a grave in the garden of
the Hermitage, and as the fresh earth encloses her form
all that is gentle in the spirit of Andrew Jackson is buried
with her. Her husband has achieved the Presidency, but
his enemies would not permit him that high fortune
without exacting their price. He is made to forfeit all
that is near and dear to him on this earth — Rachel, with
whom he lived for thirty-seven years. On the tablet that
covers her grave is inscribed : ''A being so gentle and
so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor.
Even death, when he tore her from the arms of her hus-
band, could but transport her to the bosom of her God."

Great events are calling for Andrew Jackson to stifle
his grief and grasp the reins of government. His Inau-
gural Address is prepared at Nashville. It is the joint pro-
duction of the General, Major Lewis and Major Lee, the
latter doing the actual writing. The General is resolved
to do right in his high office. He consecrates himself to
the memory of Rachel. But there is another feeling that
struggles for supremacy within him. It is to even the
score with those whom he profoundly believes have killed
his wife. And he is convinced, most likely erroneously,

299

ANDREW JACKSON

that the initiator of the slanders against Rachel is Henry
Clay. He believes also that President Adams countenanced
that form of a campaign against him. He is wrong.

The middle of January, the President-elect begins the
journey to Washington. He is accompanied by his
nephew, Andrew Jackson Donelson, who will become his
private secretary, and the latter's wife, Mrs. Donelson,
who will be mistress of the White House, assisted by one
of Mrs. Jackson's nieces. Major Lewis and Major Lee
also are in the Presidential party. Later on will come
R. E. W. Earle, a portrait painter, the General's friend, who
will live at the Executive Mansion, and occupy his entire
time in painting portraits of Jackson. It will be understood
that those who seek the President's favor will be wise in
first giving this artist a commission. He will be called
"The King's Painter."

The party travels by boat most of the way. Washing-
ton goes wild with excitement as General Jackson enters
the city. The White House is virtually deserted. Presi-
dent Adams, nursing a grouch over his defeat, is packing
up his papers for an early departure. He cannot quite
make it all out. It seems as though the population of
the whole country has suddenly descended upon the little
city of Washington, whose streets are still cow-paths,
through which stage coaches rumble and often upset in
the deep mud gullies.

Webster observes: "I never saw such a crowd here
before. Persons have come five hundred miles to see Gen-
eral Jackson, and they really seem to think that the coun-
try is rescued from some dreadful danger."

300

^^^^^

Chapter XXIV

''MILLENNIUM OF THE MIN
NOWS''

y\ GREATER concourse of people never attended an
jl\. inauguration of a President than is present around
the Capitol as Andrew Jackson takes the oath as sev-
enth President of the United States. King Mob whips his
hordes into a frenzy as he catches a glimpse of the tall
and imposing figure of the Tennesseean. As Chief Justice
Marshall appears to administer the oath a sudden calm
pervades the scene and ten thousand upturned and exult-
ant faces witneac Old Hickory swearing on the Bible of
his departed Rachel to uphold the Constitution of the
republic. The President begins to read his address, but
his voice fails to carry into the throng. What does it
matter? They have come not to hear the speech, but to
see the man.

The address is brief. Jackson is committed to a pro-
tective tariff and a policy for internal improvements.
Of the tariff he says : ''With regard to a proper selec-
tion of the subjects of impost, with a view to revenue,
it would seem to me that the spirit of equity, caution

301

ANDREW JACKSON

and compromise, in which the Constitution was formed,
requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce
and manufactures, should be equally favored; and that,
perhaps, the only exception to this rule should consist
in the peculiar encouragement of any products of either
of them that may be found essential to our national in-
dependence."

The President dismisses the question of internal im-
provements in a sentence : 'Tnternal improvement, and the
diffusion of knowledge, so far as they can be promoted
by the Constitutional acts of the federal government, are
of high importance."

It is his attitude toward national defence that causes
surprise in Washington. It had been charged during the
campaign that, if Jackson became President, the Man on
Horseback would reduce the republic to a nation of goose-
steppers, and that military parades rather than executive
duties would occupy the attention of the Chief Magis-
trate.

The President, who owes his position to his deeds on
the battlefield, says: "Considering staiWing armies as
dangerous to free governments, in time of peace, I shall
not seek to enlarge our present establishment, nor dis-
regard that salutary lesson of political experience which
teaches that the military should be held subordinate to
the civil power." As a commander in the field, Jackson
took exactly the reverse attitude. "The bulwark of our
defence," he declares, "is the national militia."

"It will be my sincere and constant desire, to observe
towards the Indian tribes within our limits, a just and
liberal policy; and to give that humane and considerate

302

^'MILLENNIUM OF THE MINNOWS*'

attention to their rights and their wants," says the former
Indian fighter whose treaties with the Red men have
called forth many rebukes in Congress because of their
severity.

He further declares ''the recent demonstration of pub-
lic sentiment inscribes, on the list of executive duties, in
characters too legible to be overlooked, the task of re-
form, which will require, particularly the correction of
those abuses that have brought the patronage of the fed-
eral government into conflict with the freedom of elec-
tions." None know save the members of the Kitchen Cab-
inet to what the President refers in the matter of
''reform" ; but all are soon to find out, and there will
be much weeping and wailing.

For the first time in history the common people feel
they have a special right to visit the White House and
participate in the festivities attending the inauguration.
Women in gingham and shawls, men in high unpolished
boots and mackinaws crowd into the rooms of the White
House — all laughing and shouting, running upstairs and
downstairs, peeping into all the rooms to see how a Presi-
dent lives, indeed, to see how Andrew Jackson, from
the backwoods, will live in his new apartments. It is too
much for Judge Joseph Story, of the Supreme Court,
a loyal Adams man. He writes to a friend : "The Presi-
dent was visited by immense crowds of people, from the
highest and most polished, down to the most vulgar and
gross in the nation."

The latter were, of course, working people whose votes

303

ANDREW JACKSON

had put Jackson Into office. They had frankly come for
a good time and they had it. Hitherto, such receptions
were reserved almost exclusively for the elite of Wash-
ington. But a nev^ era begins v^^ith President Jackson, in
more ways than one, as Washington's ladies and gentle-
men will soon observe.

Of course. President Jackson sees that refreshments
are served to his guests. Orange punch by barrels full is
made, but, as the waiters open the doors to bring it out,
a stampede ensues for the beverage ; glasses and crockery
are broken and pails of liquor are upset on the rich car-
pets of the Executive Mansion. So eager are the men
to get their share of punch that waiters find it difficult
to bring the women wine and ices. So tubs of punch are
finally taken out into the garden to lure the crowd from
the rooms. Jackson shakes hands with the assemblage,
and those who cannot crowd up front stand on the beau-
tiful damask chairs to see the President. Two tall men
seat two pretty girls on each end of the mantelpiece, from
which point of vantage they sparkle like living candela-
brums.

An air of expectancy pervades Washington. Ex-Presi-
dent Adams has departed with injured feelings because
Jackson deliberately ignored him and refused to pay the
out-going President a call of courtesy. Henry Clay mopes
in his home and does not leave the house on the bright
sunny day of the inauguration. John C. Calhoun, as Vice
President, is joyful. He sees himself as Jackson's suc-
cessor. Office-holders quake in their shoes. Thirty-eight
of President Adams's nominations had been postponed by

304

**MILLENNIUM OF THE MINNOWS"

the Senate in order to give that patronage to Jackson. It
seems as if one half of the population of Washington are
hungry office seekers. Every member of the Kitchen Cab-
inet and high personages, expected to be favored by the
Administration, are button-holed for jobs. Old soldiers
under Jackson in his several wars make it a field day
for job-hunting. Politicians of acknowledged evil bearing
are bold and brazen in asserting their wants. There are
as many rascals begging to be turned into the fold to feed
for four years at the public trough as Jackson has made
up his mind to turn out into barren pastures.

Edward Livingston, now a Senator from Louisiana,
is told by Jackson that Martin Van Buren is to be Sec-
retary of State. He offers Livingston, his old aide at the
Battle of New Orleans, the choice of the other posts.
Livingston prefers his Senatorship to a Cabinet portfolio,
except that one designated for Van Buren. 'The Red
Fox," as Van Buren is called, resigns the Governorship
of New York, which he has held for two months, and
departs for Washington.

Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, a shrewd mer-
chant, owner of a paper mill, and author of a pamphlet
attacking Adams and Clay on the basis of the ''bargain
story," is named Secretary of the Treasury.

John H. Eaton, Senator from Tennessee, native of
North Carolina, a graduate from Chapel Hill, original
Jackson man, his first biographer, and the husband of
one of Mrs. Jackson's nieces, becomes Secretary of War.

305

ANDREW JACKSON

The President could not have made a more unfortunate
choice here, had he deHberately set about to give himself
endless trouble.

John Branch, of North Carolina, named Secretary of
the Navy, endeared himself to Jackson by voting in the
Senate against the confirmation of Clay as Secretary of
State in 1825. He, Hke Ingham, was originally a Cal-
houn man.

John McPherson Berrien, of Georgia, who has attained
some eminence as a lawyer, judge and legislator, is ap-
pointed Attorney General. He, too, voted against con-
firming Clay in 1825.

William T. Barry, of Kentucky, appointed Postmaster
General, was formerly friendly to Clay, but he swallowed
the "bargain story" and aided mightily in swinging Ken-
tucky into Jackson's column for the Presidency. Barry
had to be rewarded. He is the first Postmaster General
to receive Cabinet rank. Almost immediately, John Ran-
dolph, of Virginia, who fought a duel with Clay in 1825,
is given the mission to Russia. President Jackson has
begun at once to even the score with Henry Clay, at
whose door he lays the blame for the death of Rachel.

The Kitchen Cabinet, through which the President is
able to reward a few of his most intimate supporters
without saddling them with burdensome tasks, makes its
debut with the Jackson Administration. Duff Green, edi-
tor of the "United States Telegraph," is rewarded for
his fierce support with a large share of the public print-
ing, and his paper becomes the recognized organ of the
Administration, which also is something of an innova-
tion in politics.

306

''MILLENNIUM OF THE MINNOWS'*

Major Lewis, who furnished the backbone and brains
of Jackson's candidacy from its inception to its triumph,
seeks no official favors. He has informed Jackson that he
desires to return to Tennessee and tend his farm. "Why,
Major,'* exclaims the General, "you are not going to leave
me here alone after doing more than any other man to
bring me here?" Lewis agrees to remain. He is given
an Auditorship in the Treasury, makes his home at the
White House, and remains for eight years the constant
companion and adviser of President Jackson. Lewis was
a brother-in-law of Secretary Eaton, both having mar-
ried nieces of Mrs. Jackson.

Ike Hill, the New Hampshire editor, who is urgent for
the removal of all those who opposed the election of
Jackson, is given a second Comptrollership of the Treas-
ury at three thousand dollars a year, and ten clerkships
in his gift. Jackson regards Hill as one of his strongest
supporters.

Amos Kendall, native of Massachusetts, more recently
editor of a pro- Jackson paper in Kentucky, ranking with
Lewis in intelligence and ability, is kept in Washington as
Fourth Auditor of the Treasury. Francis P. Blair has not
yet been given an official berth, but before long this saga-
cious journalist will become one of the chief props of Jack-
son's throne. Blair's artillery will be ink and paper. He
will fit into the Jacksonian mind as snugly as a chip in a
jig-saw puzzle. Opposition politicians will have cause to
wish, before eight years have run, that Blair had never
been born. His son will become Postmaster General in
Lincoln's Cabinet.

Thus, the gentlemen are seated. In Washington, an op-

307

ANDREW JACKSON

position wit has pronounced the Cabinet selections "the
millennium of the minnows."

Terror strikes at the heart of Washington. The office-
holders are going to lose their jobs and a new brood will be
installed. President Washington removed none from office
except for good cause. John Adams disposed of nine men
during his term ; Jefferson in eight years removed thirty-
nine ; Madison in two terms unseated five ; Monroe in two
terms dispatched nine; John Quincy Adams found only
two who were unworthy.

Governor William Marcy, of New York, coined the
phrase, ''To the victors belong the spoils." President
Jackson applies it. In the first month of his rule he ousts
more office-holders than had occurred in all the previous
administrations combined. In the first year two thousand
civil employees lose their jobs which are promptly filled by
Jackson's partisans. Among these are four hundred and
ninety-one postmasterships out of a total of eight thou-
sand. Only the four hundred and ninety-one are worth
having.

General William Henry Harrison was appointed Minis-
ter to the new republic of Colombia in the last days of the
Adams regime. Four days after Jackson took office, Har-
rison was recalled. He had been at his post only four
weeks. Harrison's offence was his criticism of General
Jackson's policy in the Seminole War. Also, he had de-
fended Clay against the charge of ''bargain" and corrup-
tion. By way of giving point to his purpose, Jackson ap-
points to Harrison's post a man from Clay's own state —

308

^'MILLENNIUM OF THE MINNOWS''

Kentucky — and one who had been especially hostile to
Jackson's arch enemy.

Samuel Swartwout — he who had won Jackson's favor
by pushing General Wilkinson into the gutter at Rich-
mond during the Burr episode — is given the plum of
Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, and is
started on his career of looting the treasury. Prior to his
appointment he had written to a friend, who also was
seeking office : "Whether or not I shall get anything in the
general scramble for plunder, remains to be proven; but
I rather guess I shall. What it will be is not yet so certain ;
perhaps keeper of the Bergen lighthouse."

Major Henry Lee, he who wrote Jackson's speeches, is
left out in the cold. Jackson fears to give him a prominent
place because of Lee's amour with his wife's sister. The
Major is appointed Consul to Algiers. The Senate refuses
to confirm the nomination, so the Major, heartbroken,
goes to Paris where he begins to write the life of Na-
poleon. He dies before the task is completed.

''The reign of terror," as the older residents of the
Capital call the new condition of things, continues apace.
Those who have managed to retain their places know not
when they will be displaced. Bureau heads have been ex-
tremely vague in stating reasons to their subordinates for
their removal. Merchants suffer from lack of cash and
pile up credits against unemployed civil servants. Build-
ers are forced to cease construction work on new homes.

Van Buren and Calhoun at once are rivals for the con-
trol of patronage and for the succession to the throne be-
fore the Administration is more than a few months old.

Three elements ever predominant in Jackson's character

309

ANDREW JACKSON

— passion, resentment and gratitude — are everywhere ap-
parent as he sets in motion the machinery of government
that creaks and groans under the inexperienced hands of
the new helmsmen.

As the warm Spring days arrive, the President is often
seen in the cool of the evening strolling about the grounds
of the White House, smoking his pipe. He is frequently
alone. In these solitary walks his thoughts are not always
concerned with his high duties, but travel back to the
garden of the Hermitage. He wonders sometimes how
Rachel would have liked this lofty station.

He does not know that at this very moment two minis-
ters of the gospel have diverted their attention from their
Christian texts, and are busily exchanging letters that pile
up accusations of immorality against the wife of his
Secretary of War. These charges, predicated upon loose
gossip, will rend the social life of Washington, and ul-
timately wreck the Cabinet.

President Andrew Jackson will soon pull down his
visor, grasp his lance and go forth to battle in defence of
the virtue and honor of Peggy Eaton, the tavern keeper's
daughter.

310

^^<^^^^<^<^<^^!^<^<^^^^r^^^^^^^^^^^^^<^^2^^^^^^

Chapter XXV

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY
EATON

PEGGY O'NEAL, beautiful and dashing, grew up in
her father's tavern at Washington, which was the
rendezvous as well as the boarding house of numerous
members of Congress. Peggy was witty and saucy. Often
she tended bar and served at the tables. Many legislators,
who had left their wives at home in distant places, patron-
ized O'Neal's tavern because of pretty Peggy, whose
coquetry and merry chatter was a happy interlude between
dismal days passed at law-making. There was that air
about Peggy which made it not immodest for her to sit
on the knee of a Senator or Representative. Peggy was
utterly natural, and her mind was free from prudishness ;
she was not conscious that her sprightliness among the
tavern's guests already was causing gossip in Washing-
ton's younger set.

In 1818, Major Eaton came to Washington as Senator
from Tennessee. He boarded at O'Neal's tavern and be-
came acquainted with Peg. Every Winter for ten years,
Senator Eaton made his headquarters there. Doubtless
propinquity was an ally that fastened the affections of the
lonely Senator, whose wife was in Tennessee, to the win-
some bar-maid. O'Neal's tavern was an eminently respect-

311

ANDREW JACKSON

able place. General and Mrs. Jackson had stopped there in
1823, when Jackson was a Senator. They both knew
Peggy and liked her. The General was friendly to her
father and mother.

In the course of time, Peggy became the wife of one
Timberlake, purser in the navy. Her husband's calling
took him far from home for long' periods. She continued
to live at the tavern, as did Senator Eaton. In 1828, Tim-
berlake, long addicted to whisky, cut his throat while on
duty in the Mediterranean. When Eaton, then a widower,
heard this news he felt a deep inclination to marry Mrs.
Timberlake. His regard for her had always been exceed-
ingly tender, but was kept, it is presumed, within rein.

Eaton, feeling certain that President Jackson would in-
clude him in his Cabinet, and being aware that Mrs.
Timberlake, despite her two children, bore a lavendar
reputation in Washington society, approached Jackson on
the subject of the propriety of the marriage.

''Why, yes. Major," said Jackson, ''if you love the
woman, and she will have you, marry her by all means."
Eaton confided to Jackson what the President already
knew — that Eaton was accused of having lived with Peggy
at the tavern both before her marriage and afterwards.
"Well," Jackson replied, "your marrying her will disprove
these charges, and restore Peg's good name." Thus, with
the Presidential imprimatur upon his nuptial certificate.
Senator Eaton and Peggy Timberlake went to the altar
on New Year's Day, 1829.

Washington society began to buzz with scandalous
stories about Eaton and Peggy the moment it was known
that the Senator had been appointed Secretary of War.

312

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

His Cabinet position meant that the eHte circles would
have to admit the former bar-maid, whose morals were in
serious question. A revolt was speedily organized among
the women — wives of high officials — and even extended
into the diplomatic corps. What could President Jackson
mean by including in his Cabinet a man guilty of adultery
with Peggy Timberlake ! The Eaton matter was the only
topic discussed when two or more Washington society
belles met. The partisans of Adams and Clay are gleeful
over this early discomfiture of the Administration and they
make of the private nonsense a political issue.

There was a way of handling this question. The Rev.
J. N. Campbell, pastor of the New York Avenue Presby-
terian Church, which Jackson and Rachel had attended in
former years, and where the President was expected to
worship in the future (out of respect for the memory of
his wife), was appealed to on the grounds of private
morality and public decency. He should ''advise" the Presi-
dent, his communicant, and urge that Secretary Eaton be
dropped from the Cabinet, and thereby save the Admin-
istration and the government of the United States from
this dreadful humiliation.

The Rev. Mr. Campbell already knew of the gossip that
was going the rounds and he was thoroughly convinced of
its credibility. But he was a cautious man. He would take
no chances in confronting Andrew Jackson with the
charges that were piled up against Eaton and his wife.
Living in the same city with Jackson was entirely too close
proximity to fool with fire. So the amiable Doctor Camp-

313

ANDREW JACKSON

bell writes to the Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, in Philadelphia,
reciting the charges and requesting that Doctor Ely draft
a letter of protest to the President. Ely, knowing little of
the situation, but believing the accusations must be true,
consents to be the medium. A bad day for Ely.

Ely's letter to the President reads like an indictment of
Peggy and the Secretary of War. Parton assembles and
condenses the charges admirably : Peggy has borne an evil
reputation from her girlhood; the ladies of Washington
will not speak to her ; a man at a table at Gadsby's Hotel
had declared openly that he knew her to be a dissolute
woman ; Mrs. Eaton had told her servants to call her chil-
dren Eaton, for Timberlake was not their father; a
clergyman of Washington had told Dr. Ely that a dead
physician had told him that Peggy had had a miscarriage
when her husband had been absent for a year ; friends of
Eaton had urged him to seek other quarters in order to rid
himself of Mrs. Timberlake; Eaton and Mrs. Timber-
lake had traveled together and had registered in New
York hotels as man and wife. These were the charges.

3
Jackson buckles on his armor at once. Two days after
he receives Ely's letter he replies to it to the extent of a
three thousand word rebuttal. He makes the case his own
and is prepared to fight it out though the government may
fall and the heavens collapse. ''No, by the Eternal,"
Jackson says, he will not be intimidated by clergymen and
the society belles of Washington. Neither will he offer up
his Secretary of War as a sacrifice to the serpentine
tongues of his enemies. Jackson, ever suspicious and armed

314

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

against the worst traits of people, scents a political basis
for this image of scandal that has come crashing through
the portals of the White House. In his letter to Doctor
Ely, Jackson suggests that the charges have emanated
from Clay and his partisans. He does not yet suspect that
Vice President Calhoun might have had a hand in it.

*'li you feel yourself at liberty," writes Jackson, "to
give the names of those secret traducers of female reputa-
tion, I entertain no doubt but they will be exposed and
consigned to public odium, which should ever be the lot of
those whose morbid appetite delights in defamation and
slander."

"Would you, my worthy friend, desire me to add the
weight and influence of my name, whatever it may be, to
assist in crushing Mrs. Eaton who, I do believe, and have a
right to believe, is a much injured woman, and more
virtuous than some of her enemies?" asks the President.
He declares that Eaton's character, also, is without a
blemish. ''Even Mrs. Madison was assailed by these
fiends in human shape," he reminds the pastor. Again,
Jackson tells the divine that in 1823 he himself was a
lodger at O'Neal's tavern, and so remained for several
years.

"From the situation and the proximity of the rooms we
occupied, there could not have been any illicit intercourse
between Mr. Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake without my hav-
ing some knowledge of it." He admits he had heard such
reports several years ago "and found it originated with
a female, against whom there was as much said as is now
said against Mrs. Eaton."

The President denies that Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake

315

ANDREW JACKSON

registered at hotels as man and wife, and he expresses pity
for the clergyman who said a dead doctor told him that
Mrs. Timberlake had been pregnant during the prolonged
absence of her husband. '1 pray you write this clergyman,
and remind him of the precepts contained in the good old
Book." Concluding, he says : "Whilst on the one hand we
should shun base women as a pestilence of the worst and
most dangerous kind to society, we ought, on the other,
to guard virtuous female character with vestal vigilance.
Truth shuns not the light ; but falsehood deals in sly and
dark insinuations, and prefers darkness, because its deeds
are evil. The Psalmist says The liar's tongue we ever hate,
and banish from our sight.' "

4
The Philadelphia clergyman, at a safe distance, in his
reply declines to drop the charges, and Jackson indites to
him another long letter demanding proof. The President
virtually suspends the regular business of the government
during the Summer and Fall of 1829 while he defends
Peggy Eaton and his Secretary. But his energy does not
cease with mere letter writing on the subject which, if
collected, might fill nearly a hundred printed pages. He
sends an emissary to New York to scan hotel registers.
He collects fifteen certificates attesting to Mrs. Eaton's
good character, all written at his personal request. He de-
mands that Doctor Ely disclose the name of the clergyman
of Washington who supplied some of the charges. Hence,
Doctor Campbell, the informer, goes to the White House
and gives his testimony. Jackson himself writes a lengthy
memorandum of this interview. The President scores a

316

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

point over the clergyman, who has declared that Mrs.
Eaton's miscarriage occurred in the year 1821.

Jackson had previously gone to the Eaton menage and
interviewed Peggy on this delicate subject. He discovered
that Timberlake was in business in Washington through-
out the year 1821, and did not leave the city until Febru-
ary, 1822. When confronted with the evidence in writing
the non-plussed Doctor Campbell advances the date. The
interview with Campbell takes place in September. Immedi-
ately following it, Jackson summons a Cabinet meeting
and calls in Dr. Ely and Dr. Campbell. The two clergymen
have an extremely embarrassing time of it. President Jack-
son interrogates them both with marked asperity and at
the conclusion he feels that Mrs. Eaton and his War Secre-
tary have been vindicated.

But the ladies of Washington, including the wives of
Cabinet Ministers, are not so easly convinced. Mrs. Cal-
houn is especially hostile. Even Mrs. Donelson, she who
presides as mistress of the White House, shuns Mrs.
Eaton. Her husband, Jackson's nephew and private secre-
tary, follows his wife's opinion. Jackson banishes them
both to Tennessee until they learn better manners and
realize who is boss in the Executive Mansion. Their exile
does not end until near the close of Jackson's first term,
and then only because the Cabinet has been reorganized,
minus Eaton.

Secretary Van Buren, a widower, diplomatic in society
as well as in politics, is decidedly pro-Eaton. He goes out
of his way to be publicly gracious to Peggy; and at state
dinners he beams upon her, while the wives of other sec-
retaries ignore her as though she has smallpox. The Cab-

ANDREW JACKSON

inet ministers, threatened with dire reprisals at home, can
do nothing less than raise their brows in disapproval of
the marked attention which President Jackson, Secretary
Van Buren, and Sir Charles Vaughn, British Minister and
unmarried, pay to Mrs. Eaton at public gatherings.

Late in the Autumn of 1829, Baron Krudener, Russian
Minister and also a bachelor, gives a ball to the Cabinet.
Mrs. Ingham, wife of the Secretary of the Treasury, de-
clines to attend, so the Baron escorts Peggy, who is next
in rank. It falls to the lot of Secretary Eaton to take the
arm of Madame Huygens, wife of the Dutch Minister.
The honorable lady from Holland refuses to sit beside
Mrs. Eaton at the table. She bounces out of the dining-
room with a great flourish of resentment. Her noisy peev-
ishness all but wrecks the ball.

Jackson hears a report that Madame Huygens has de-
clared she will give a ball at which the upstart and hussy
shall not be invited. Mrs. Branch, wife of the Secretary
of the Navy; Mrs. Berrien, wife of the Attorney General,
and Mrs. Ingham announce they will do the same. The
President declares to Van Buren that, if the report of
Madame Huygens's threat is true, he will demand the re-
call of the Dutch Minister. An international incident is
avoided by Van Buren obtaining a denial of the report
from Minister Huygens.

Jackson's next step is to call his recalcitrant Ministers

to account and threaten them with dismissal unless they

can arrange their social affairs to include Secretary and

Mrs. Eaton. Postmaster General Barry appears to be

318

12 3 4

John H. Eaton Samuel D. Ingham Martin Van Biiren John Branch

Secretary of War Secretary of the Secretary of State Secretary of the
Treasury Navy

WHAT ''pretty PEGGY" PRODUCED

A cartoonist, contemporary with Jackson's reign, portrays
the collapse of the President's Cabinet, due to the scandal
over ]Mrs. Eaton. Jackson's foot on Van Buren's tail is not
without political significance of the period.

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

neutral. It is probable that Jackson wished Ingham,
Branch and Berrien to resign following the rebuke, and
thus save the Administration the embarrassment of a Cab-
inet crisis. But the Ministers elect to remain. Later on,
Jackson allows the blame of starting *'the Eaton malaria,"
as Van Buren calls it in his ''Autobiography," to rest be-
tween Vice President Calhoun and Clay. Jackson is now
convinced that Calhoun is *'the great intriguer."

It is true that Calhoun yearns to be President. He would
step into the White House by fair means if possible, by
foul if he must. Jackson's advisers, particularly Major
Lewis, have aroused the President's suspicions against
Calhoun. They have already decided that Van Buren shall
succeed Jackson, but not until Old Hickory has served a
second term.

Van Buren — the ''Red Fox of Kinderhook" — takes full
advantage of his unique position. He frequently break-
fasts with the President and goes riding with him before
they start the day's business. Van Buren is sly. By neither
sign nor signal does he lead Jackson to think that he,
Martin Van Buren, is angling for the succession. He is
aware that the President desires none in his Cabinet who
have Presidential aspirations. So Van Buren, as far as
Jackson is concerned, has none. And Martin's astonishing
modesty in this connection convinces Jackson that none
other than Van Buren shall succeed him.

In all of this, Calhoun is plainly left out in the cold. The
South Carolinian has about made up his mind that it is
time to crash the gates. But the President's Kitchen Cab-
inet is aware of what is going on in Calhoun's mind. They
have already mounted their artillery and are prepared, at

319

ANDREW JACKSON

the proper time, to blow Calhoun's Presidential dreams
into a nightmare.

President Jackson's definite break with Calhoun comes
in 1830. It had been brewing for many years. There was a
time, — when Calhoun was Secretary of War in the latter
part of Monroe's term, and Jackson was conducting the
Seminole War in Florida, — that Old Hickory believed
Calhoun was his friend. It will be recalled, however, that
at a secret Cabinet meeting in 18 18, Calhoun recommended
to Monroe that Jackson be censured for his abuse of power
in Florida. It will be remembered that Adams took Jack-
son's part, and there the matter rested. Letters have since
come to light, and are duly placed in Jackson's hand, show-
ing that Calhoun was not the General's friend in 181 8.
Jackson calls it the deepest duplicity. The weightiest evi-
dence possible to obtain, short of a statement from former
President Monroe, is garnered by the foes of Calhoun. It
comes from William H. Crawford, Monroe's Secretary of
the Treasury. Crawford, having missed out on the Presi-
dency himself, does not now care who attains it. He tells
what he knows of that secret Cabinet session. It is too
much for Jackson to endure with equanimity.

Moreover, Calhoun's conduct toward Mrs. Eaton,
coupled with the bitter hostility of Mrs. Calhoun, serves
to convince Jackson that the Vice President all along has
been at the bottom of that affair in order that he might
embarrass the Administration by forcing a scandal upon it
and elevate his own Presidential stock. It is not likely that
Calhoun is guilty of this double-dyed duplicity as Jackson
views it. He possesses many statesmanlike qualities which,
however, are often blurred by his consuming ambition

320

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

that causes him to do petty and frequently questionable
acts.

Only the Constitution prevents Jackson from banishing
Calhoun. As he regrets his inability to remove the Vice
President, he also resolves to make that gentleman's ex-
istence exceedingly burdensome. For two years Jackson
and Calhoun carry on their warfare within the official
circle. Calhoun's friends charge Van Buren with causing
the break. The Secretary of State stoutly denies it. Martin
probably has nothing to do with it. But he profits hand-
somely by it. The Kitchen Cabinet, not the official one, is
the real power behind the Jackson throne.

In the next year, 1831, the President dismisses his
Cabinet. The Ministers and their wives are still untractable
with regard to Mrs. Eaton. The General, weary of the af-
fair and not accustomed to being defied, turns them all out.
Those who are reluctant to resign he ''fires" with little
ceremony. Van Buren is to become Minister to the Court
of St. James's. Eaton is named Governor of Florida. He
will be appointed Minister to Spain in 1836. But in 1840
he will turn against Van Buren and support the enemies of
Andrew Jackson, who then will say of his one-time
friend : ''He is the most degraded of all the apostates fed,
clothed and cherished by the Administration." Eaton dies
in 1856. Peggy, of many memories, dies in Washington
in 1878.

Early in his Administration, Andrew Jackson, a per-
plexed, sick and lonely old man, writes to his brother-in-
law. Captain John Donelson, back in Tennessee :

321

ANDREW JACKSON

''What satisfaction to me to be informed that you had
visited the Hermitage and tomb of my dear departed
wife. How distressing it has been to me to have been
drawn by pubHc duty from that interesting spot where
my thoughts deHght to dwell, so soon after this heavy
bereavement to mingle with all the bustle, labor and care
of public life, when my age, my enfeebled health and con-
stitution forewarned me that my time cannot be long upon
earth. . . .

"Could I but withdraw from the scenes that surround
me to the private walks of the Hermitage, how soon would
I be found in the solitary shades of my garden, at the
tomb of my dear wife, there to spend my days in silent
sorrow, and in peace from the toils and strife of this life,
with which I have been long since satisfied. But this is
denied me. I cannot retire with propriety. When my
friends dragged me before the public, contrary to my
wishes, and that of my dear wife, I foresaw all this evil,
hilt I was obliged to bend to the wishes of my friends. . . .
My political creed compelled me to yield to the call, and
I consoled myself with the idea of having the counsel and
society of my dear wife; and one term would soon run
round, when we would retire to the Hermitage, and spend
our days in the service of our God. . . .*'

The President will drop into this mood many, many
times in the stormy years that still await him as Chief
Executive. He has still to humble several of the mightiest
influences and institutions in the land. Frail in body, with
a deep ominous cough, too ill many a day even to go to his
office, he keeps in constant touch with the affairs of gov-

322

JACKSON DEFENDS PEGGY EATON

ernment and the speeches in Congress, which his Kitchen
Cabinet report to him in extenso.

The President is taking a good look at his enemies as
they stand in the white Hght of poHtical preferment. He is
making up his mind whom he shall topple next.

323

Chapter XXVI
THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

JACKSON'S advisers have resolved they will not per-
mit the "Eaton malaria" to occupy the w^hole atten-
tion either of the President or of the country. Two years
must pass between the outbreak of that scandal and the
dissolution of the Cabinet, which will not occur until Jack-
son and Calhoun fight their battle of words. This will re-
sult in Jackson's invariable triumph, throwing Calhoun
into the opposition and bringing John perilously near to
the hangman's halter on a charge of treason. We are now
concerned with happenings prior to the Cabinet crisis.

Congress has assembled — the first of Jackson's Admin-
istration. The House, elected with Jackson, is obedient to
his will. Many of the major issues destined to be identified
with Jacksonian Democracy first appear at this session.
The President does not wait long before showing his hand.
The isues are the tarifif, internal improvements, the public
debt, state's rights, the first warning of the South of seces-
sion because of its bitter opposition to the tariff (this
hostility taking the form of Nullification), and Jackson's
initial threat to crush the Second Bank of the United
States and substitute a federal bank as an adjunct of the
United States Treasury.

324

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

The Second Bank had obtained its charter in 1816 over
the opposition of President Madison. This charter was for
a period of twenty years and therefore would expire in
1836. It appears that the initial aversion to the Bank ap-
peared during and after the Revolution when torrents of
paper money were issued, and which sunk in value to
nothing. In many sections of the country, particularly in
the West, people had so little confidence in Alexander
Hamilton's finance scheme that they preferred to use land,
whisky, guns and cow-bells as specie rather than handle
paper money. As the Bank became influential and boasted
a huge capital, the prejudice of the masses against it did
not abate.

Serious charges were leveled at the Bank. It was be-
lieved to have used its great influence in manipulating
politics by supporting office-seekers committed to its per-
petuity. It was accused of withholding credit to small mer-
chants and agriculturists if such credit could not be
converted into political assets that would place the Bank
in a position of strength at least equal to any Administra-
tion that happened to be in power. The_Barik^in_inost
particulars, was a rich man's institution, chiefly concerned
with perpetuating the interests of that class at the expense
of tenant farmers and wage earners.

When Jackson was elected in 1828, the Bank was power-
ful. Its capital was thirty-five millions ; the government's
money in its vaults totalled about seven millions ; its private
deposits were about six millions more ; it had about twelve
millions in circulation; its discounts were about forty
millions a year, and its profits about three millions annu-
ally. The parent Bank was in Philadelphia where it oc-

325

ANDREW JACKSON

cupied a great marble palace. It required the services of a
hundred clerks in Philadelphia, and more than five hundred
throughout the country to serve its twenty-five branches in
cities and towns. Each branch had its own president,
cashier and board of directors. Its credit was unquestioned.
A fifth of its stock was owned by foreigners; women,
orphans and trustees of charity funds held large blocks.

The general board of directors embraced twenty-five
men of high financial standing, five of whom were ap-
pointed by the President. The Bank and its branches re-
ceived and disbursed the entire revenue of the nation. The
guiding spirit of this great establishment is Nicholas Bid-
die, once a Philadelphia lawyer and later editor of a lit-
erary magazine. Monroe had appointed him Government
Director of the Bank in 1819, and in 1823 he was elected
president by unanimous vote.

Biddle already had won the title of ''Emperor Nicho-
las" when Jackson entered the White House. The title, as
well as the institution, was obnoxious to that great horde
of plebeians — seekers of liberty and democracy — who
threw their hats into the air and shouted "Hurrah for
Jackson." The masses, being poor, were soon able to con-
jure up an eloquent hatred of the Bank, which was rich.
The animosity was predicated upon the belief that it had
come to its wealth through the exploitation of the poor.

The Bank was not a prominent issue in the campaign of
1828. It is not likely that Jackson gave it much thought
until two months after he was seated, and the manner in

326

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

which this came about was accidental. Ike Hill, of New
Hampshire, one of Jackson's favorites and a member of
the Kitchen Cabinet, is second Comptroller of the Treas-
ury. He came to Washington firmly convinced that all who
were not friends of Jackson should be turned out of office.
Hill is utterly loyal to his chief. He had been a starving
printer, turned editor. He was lame and unprepossessing.
But a more zealous fighter for principles never held an
official post. He loved his country and his friends.

The first tilt with the Bank occurred in the first few
months of Jackson's rule. Hill objected to the appoint-
ment of Jeremiah Mason, friend of Adams and Webster,
as president of the branch bank at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. He thought the place should go to a friend of
the Administration. For more than two months, Hill
carried on a war against Mason, whom he accused of re-
fusing small and safe loans to business men in New
Hampshire, while loaning large sums outside the state
at greater risk. Hill is able to get fifty-six members of the
New Hampshire legislature to sign a petition, calling for
Mason's removal.

Secretary of the Treasury Ingham directs the attention
of Emperor Nicholas to the dispute. United States Senator
Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire, joins Hill in the
campaign against Mason. Hill also weakens Mason's
props by demanding the removal of the Pension Agency
from the branch at Portsmouth to Concord. Secretary of
War Eaton falls in with the scheme and directs Mason to
deliver up all books and records to the new pension agent
who will reside at Concord- Mason advises Emperor

ANDREW JACKSON

Nicholas that he will disregard the order of the Secretary
of War, and will await further orders from Philadel-
phia.

Emperor Nicholas departs for Portsmouth where he
investigates the charges against Mason. He reports to Sec-
retary Ingham that Hill's charges are groundless. Mason
is re-elected president of the branch bank at Portsmouth.
Thus the Administration has been defied by the Bank.
Jackson takes note of this. The Bank is doomed. The die
is cast. Emperor Nicholas might have saved his Bank had
he been as astute in politics as he was able in finance. He
has been handling money for so long that he imagines it
is both sweet music and artillery. But he has gone too far.
He has crossed the Rubicon and challenged not Ike Hill,
nor Eaton, nor Ingham, but Andrew Jackson. There is
vinegar in the nectar that the Emperor drinks from the
cup of victory when he returns to the marble palace in
Philadelphia.

Congress is in session. Friends of the Bank in both the
Senate and the House are chortling over the triumph of
Emperor Nicholas. They listen to the President's mes-
sage. The President advocates a single term of four or
six years. He upholds the wholesale removal of Adams
men, declaring the office-holder has no more right to his
office than the office-seeker. He adds that a long tenure is
almost necessarily corrupting. He says the 1828 tariff has
not benefited manufactures, neither has it injured agri-
culture and commerce. Modifications are recommended,

328

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

which should be considered not as party or sectional ques-
tions. This is directed at the South, in revolt against the
tariff, which is view^ed in that quarter as stifling and
virtually throwing the burden of the support of the gov-
ernment upon southern agriculturists.

The finances of the republic, says the President, are in a
satisfactory condition. The Treasury holds nearly six mil-
lions; he estimates receipts for 1830 at twenty-four mil-
lions six hundred thousand, and expenditures at a little
more than twenty-six millions. More than twelve millions
of the public debt have been paid, leaving forty-eight and
a half millions still to be paid. When this debt shall have
been wiped out, says the message, then the issue will arise
whether the surplus revenue should not be apportioned
among the states for works of public utility, and thus end
the question of internal improvements. The" President is
unalterably opposed to appropriating money for the build-
ing of roads and canals, of which the country is badly in
need, as long as the public debt remains unsettled. Also,
he rejects every suggestion of the government advancing
money to private stock companies or contractors for in-
ternal improvements. This, also, he regards as inviting
corruption.

At the close of the message appears the big jolt. He
calls for the consideration by Congress of the question of
granting a new charter to the Bank in 1836. ''Both the
constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating
this Bank are well questioned by a large portion of our
fellow -citizens ; and it must be admitted by all, that it has
failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and

329

ANDREW JACKSON

sound currency." Jackson suggests *'a national one,
founded upon the credit of the government and its rev-
enues."

Emperor Nicholas begins to see the handwriting on the
v^all. His satellites in Congress are panicky. Jackson men
in both houses are jubilant, and Ike Hill has succeeded in
writing his hostility to the Bank in a Presidential Mes-
sage. Major Lewis and Amos Kendall, without a doubt,
wrote, edited and revised that document before it was
given to Congress. But every word of it expressed the
personal views of Jackson and said what he would have
written had he been able to compose a state paper.

Andrew Jackson fills his pipe and settles down in a big
rocking chair drawn up before a blazing grate in one of
the smaller rooms of the Executive Mansion. A shawl
drapes his shoulders, for the Mansion is chilly. Either
Major Lewis, or Donelson attend every session of Con-
gress and report back to Jackson what is going on, who is
talking and what was said. Jackson, like all Presidents, is
annoyed by the sputterings in Congress.

The Senate turns its attention to the President's nom-
inations, and the most conspicuous rejection is that of Ike
Hill. The Bank has decided Hill must go. Jackson regards
the slight to Hill as a personal affront, because Hill is his
friend and one of his advisers. Therefore, Jackson de-
cides that the Senate shall be taught a lesson.

The skill of Kendall is now called upon. Kendall is one
of the most versatile country editors that ever held an
important post at Washington. The confirmation of

2>ZO

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

Kendall's nomination as Fourth Auditor of the Treasury
is accomplished only by the deciding vote of the Vice
President. Kendall prepares an article at Washington
on Hill's rejection by the Senate. It is written from the
point of view of being a personal affront to Jackson, and
is for publication in the "New Hampshire Patriot," Hill's
old newspaper. A copy of the article is given to Duff
Green for his ''Telegraph" in Washington, and other
copies are sent to pro-Jackson papers throughout the
country. The article is supposed to have originated in
New Hampshire. Kendall, more than once, will supply
Jackson papers with "Washington news." Hence, Kendall,
a federal official, actually is the Administration's press
agent. The Jacksonians are the first to recognize the power
of the press and utilize it for their own ends. Political
cartoons likewise come into flower under the Jackson
regime, but Andrew suffers from this innovation quite as
much as his enemies. Not all artists are Democrats.

Kendall's article to the "New Hampshire Patriot" has
its effect. The Jackson men in that state are aroused. The
term of Senator Woodbury — Jackson man — is about to
expire, and he is informed that it will be to his advantage
not to seek re-election, but to yield in favor of Ike Hill.
The trick works perfectly. At the election in the Spring,
Hill wins the Senatorship. In due time he returns to Wash-
ington as a member of the body that rejected him as a
clerk in the Treasury Department. The victory is entirely
Jackson's, It is more than this. It is a warning to the Bank
of the United States that its days are numbered.

Jackson is proving himself to be an adroit politician as
well as a skillful military commander. Surrounded as he is

331

ANDREW JACKSON

with able advisers (outside of his Cabinet Ministers,
whom he rarely consults, excepting Van Buren), in no
sense does he make his will subservient to theirs.

Woodbury's sacrifice is recognized by Jackson. He is
kept in reserve, and will be rewarded later on with a
Cabinet position. Resolutions for and against the Bank
are introduced at this session, but Emperor Nicholas be-
lieves he has the upper hand. Congress also takes up the
question — advocated by Jackson — of the removal of the
Indians from the southern states to districts West of
the Mississippi. The President, who knows the Indian
temperament as no other man in the country could know
it better, proceeds cautiously, but relentlessly, to drive the
Red men from their familiar hunting grounds into the
western wilderness. Considerable opposition is heard in
Congress to this measure which, like every matter urged
by Jackson, is made the subject of violent debate. ''Friends
of Indians" spring up everywhere among Jackson's ene-
mies. The Red men should feel flattered if they are able to
read the speeches uttered in their behalf.

The fire of the Nullification movement, which threatens
to become a conflagration involving the very existence of
the republic, is precipitated, like many great events in
history, by the gathering of accidental kindling and the
placing of it in the immediate area of inflammable ma-
terial. Senator Samuel A. Foote, of Connecticut, intro-
duces a harmless resolution calling for the suspension for
a time of the sale of public lands. Senator Robert Y.
Hayne, of South Carolina, one of the younger members

2>Z^

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

whose idol is Calhoun, rises to speak on the Foote resolu-
tion. Hayne thinks and dreams in oratorical patterns.

The Tariff Bill, for which Jackson had voted in 1824,
was obnoxious to the South, and the Tariff Bill of 1828
was even more so. It had caused a depression in the market
for southern produce and had created extreme discontent.
South Carolina was not alone in protesting against the
tariff. Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama
registered their protests against it both through their repre-
sentatives at Washington and in petitions directed to the
government.

In South Carolina, however, extreme language had
been used ; one prominent citizen went so far as to say that
it was time for the South to ''calculate the value of the
Union." In the course of his address, Hayne declared : 'T
afrfoneof those who believe that the very life of our sys-
tem is the independence of the states, and that there is no
evil more to be deprecated than the consolidation of this
government." Jackson himself is an ar dent state 's rights
man, but he is equally fervent in upholding the federal
government and the Constitution in which it is mortised.
Jackson had won his office by the aid of the State's Rights
Party^'en, and it is possible that they believe they will re-
ceive support from the Executive. They think wrongly.
Webster appears on the Senate floor while Hayne is speak-
ing, and the Senator from Massachusetts, who in no wise
is a Jackson adherent, replies to Hayne in what will be re-
garded a-s one of the most brilliant speeches of his career.
A little later in the session Edward Livingston, Senator
from Louisiana, sets forth boldly and bravely in an equally
brilliant speech the attitude of the Administration with

333

ANDREW JACKSON

respect to the Nullifiers. It will fall to Livingston's lot
still later, as Secretary of State, to frame Jackson's
supreme challenge to Nullification.

Jefferson's birthday had been celebrated in Washington
for twenty years, and the occasion in April, 1830, has been
decided upon by the Nullifiers as most propitious to chal-
lenge the government and to "smoke out" Andrew Jack-
son. There are many, however, who look upon Jackson as
the exemplifier of Jefferson's principles which, by a twist
of their own imagination, they somehow connect with
Nullification.

General Jackson, Major Lewis, Van Buren and others
among his close advisers, are convinced that the Jefferson
birthday banquet has been selected not to do honor to the
memory of the sage of Monticello, but to exploit the Nul-
lification movement in the presence of Jackson, the Vice
President, the Cabinet and the guests, and thus embar-
rass the Administration. Jackson is not caught napping.
He calls in Van Buren, Major Lewis and Donelson and
submits to them several samples of toasts that he has writ-
ten for the occasion. He asks their advice in the selection
of one. It is decided that the Nullifiers are to be chal-
lenged in their own tent. Consistent with Jackson, the ag-
gressive course is decided upon.

The hour for the banquet arrives. Virtually every toast
of the twenty-four proposed hits squarely upon the subject
of Nullification, for the banquet is packed with Nullifiers.
Colonel Thomas H. Benton, Senator from Missouri who,
long since, has made his peace with Jackson, attends the

334

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

affair. Benton observes that many leave the hall, disgusted
with the spirit of disloyalty to the Union and the deliber-
ate affront to the President.

After most of the speakers have become hoarse from
long talking, and the regular toasts have been proposed,
there comes the round of volunteer toasts ; there are more
than eighty of these.

Andrew Jackson is called upon. Voices in the ante-
rooms cease to buzz. Stern silence falls upon the banquet
hall. The President is on his feet. He draws himself up to
his full stature. All faces are turned toward him, and all
meet his gaze — all except Calhoun, who plays with his
napkin. The pause is ominous. Jackson finally fastens his
hawk-like eyes upon the figure of the Vice President. He
raises his glass, and in a stern even voice he declares :
''Our Federal Union: It Must Be Preserved."

The reaction is electric. Not a man in the building, not
one sitting at the banquet table mistakes his meaning. The
toast immediately assumes the character of a proclamation
announcing a plot to destroy the Union and summoning
the people to its defence.

Calhoun is next called upon. He says :

*'The Union: Next to our liberty the most dear. May
we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting
the rights of the states, and distributing equally the bene-
fit and burden of the Union." The significance of the Vice
President's toast likewise leaves no doubt in the minds
of the guests of his leadership of the Nullifiers. Jackson
has suspected it for some time.

Shortly after the banquet a South Carolina Congress-
man calls upon Jackson, saying he is leaving for home and

335

ANDREW JACKSON

inquires if the General has any message for his South
CaroHna friends. ''No, I beheve not," Jackson replies.
The Congressman starts to depart when he is called back.

"Yes, I have," says Jackson. "Please give my compli-
ments to my friends in your state, and say to them that if
a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to
the laws of United States, I will hang the first man I
can lay my hand on engaged in such treasonable conduct,
upon the first tree I can reach."

The President vetoes the Maysville and Lexington
Road Bill. In a lengthy Veto Message, he declares there
shall be no more internal improvements until the national
debt has been paid, and the Constitution revised, authoriz-
ing appropriations for the construction of public works.
He promises that in four years the debt will have been
extinguished — "and how gratifying the effect of present-
ing to the world the sublime spectacle of a republic, of
more than twelve millions of happy people, in the fifty-
fourth year of her existence — after having passed through
two protracted wars, the one for the acquisition and the
other for the maintenance of liberty — free from debt, and
with all her immense resources unfettered!"

Three other internal improvement bills are passed to-
ward the end of the session. Two of these Jackson retains
until after Congress adjourns, which is the equivalent of
veto, and the third he returns to the Senate with his dis-
approval.

It is in this year — 1830 — that Major Lewis drives in
stakes for the re-election of President Jackson. Pennsyl-
vania is selected by Lewis as the state where the move-
ment for Jackson should first occur. Pennsylvania is

336

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

chosen because Calhoun has considerable strength there,
and Pennsylvania's action in indorsing Jackson for an-
other term will have the effect of virtually sealing Cal-
houn's political coffin, as far as the Presidency is con-
cerned. So the astute Lewis drafts a letter, or rather a
petition, addressed to Jackson, which is to be circulated
among members of the Pennsylvania legislature and signed
by them and forwarded to Jackson. Thus they are spared
the bother of drawing up their own letter. The scheme
clicks wonderfully. Sixty-eight legislators sign on the
dotted line, begging Jackson, in a letter that Lewis wrote
in the White House at Jackson's elbow, to please run
again. Small political details of this nature President
Jackson is willing to leave to the major-domo of the
Kitchen Cabinet.

There follows in rapid succession Jackson's break with
Calhoun, of which the public is not apprised for some
time later. The Eaton affair also has usurped public at-
tention throughout all of this period. The question is
raised both at home and abroad whether the experiment in
democracy is not a failure in the United States, and
whether a monarchical form of government might not be
best, after all. Whisperings of these speculations reach
the backwoods people, and the cry goes up among them
that if a king is to rule in America he shall be none other
than Emperor Andrew L

Calhoun's break with Jackson leads Duff Green, editor
of the "United States Telegraph," to sponsor the cause
of the Vice President. It therefore becomes necessary for
the Administration to establish its own mouthpiece to
counteract Calhoun's paper. Kendall is ushered into the

337

ANDREW JACKSON

White House for a conference on this point, the upshot
of which is : Francis P. Blair, formerly associated with
Kendall on the ''Kentucky Argus," is drafted for Wash-
ington service, and the "Globe" is established. It has
neither money nor presses, but it possesses Blair, and that
is enough.

Blair fits into the Jackson mold perfectly. Every member
of the Kitchen Cabinet exerts himself to drum up sub-
scribers for the **Globe," which makes its bow on Decem-
ber 7, 1830. Office-holders in Washington and elsewhere
are given to understand that they are expected to sub-
scribe, and to support the paper loyally. It is announced
far and wide that the "Globe" is the official organ of
Jacksonian Democracy, and the "Telegraph" is not.
Major Lewis and Amos Kendall adjust matters so that a
large part of the government printing is thrown to the
"Globe," and taken away from the "Telegraph." A sup-
porter of the Bank sends a donation of two hundred dol-
lars. Blair learns where the money comes from and re-
turns it.

In a short time the "Globe" is self-supporting. Its in-
fluence in keeping Jackson's name and his deeds before the
public is tremendous. Jacksonian editors reprint its opin-
ions as their own. Blair is worth more to the party than if
he were Secretary of State, and his influence is greater.

In December Congress is again in session. Jackson's
message touches lightly upon the tariff question, but im-
plores the people not to regard it as a sectional matter.
The South is not impressed. The NuUifiers are more active
than ever. They are merely biding their time. The spirit
of secession has seized South Carolina.

338

THE JEREMIAH OF DEMOCRACY

Jackson announces that eleven millions, three hundred
and fifty- four thousand, six hundred and thirty dollars
has been paid on the public debt, and that there is a bal-
ance in the Treasury of four millions, eight hundred and
nineteen thousand, seven hundred and eighty-one dollars.
He repeats his warning against the Bank, and cites some
of its abuses. It is at this session that Colonel Benton fires
the Administration's first gun at the Bank. It is at this
period that Jackson decides to oust all members of his
Cabinet who have been unfair, untractable, and insolent
in the Eaton affair. Ingham, Branch and Berrien — all
Calhoun men — are thrown out. Hence, Calhoun has no
more power within the Administration. He has nothing but
his Vice Presidency — and he will not have that much
longer.

339

•'i^

Chapter XXVII
THE WAR ON THE BANK

IN the Spring of 1831, the President is surrounded by
his new Cabinet. In the first place, Louis McLane is
recalled as Minister to England, and Van Buren succeeds
him. McLane had distinguished himself for his successful
negotiations with the British Ministry for regaining the
privilege of trading with the British West Indies in Ameri-
can bottoms. Jackson properly considers this as one of the
high lights of his policy in the handling of foreign affairs.
Edward Livingston, able and cultured, becomes Secretary
of State; McLane becomes Secretary of the Treasury;
Lewis Cass, Governor of the Territory of Michigan, is
Secretary of War; Levi Woodbury, of New Hampshire,
is Secretary of the Navy; Roger B. Taney, Attorney Gen-
eral of Maryland, and one of the Federalists who sup-
ported Jackson in 1828, is named Attorney General ; Barry
remains as Postmaster General.

The new Cabinet is a vast improvement upon the former
one. The opposition, however, imagines it sees Jackson's
confession of weakness. ''Who could have imagined,"
writes Clay in retirement at his home in Ashland, Ken-
tucky, ''such a cleansing of the Augean stable at Wash-
ington?" A little later Clay, who is still blowing Presi-

340

THE WAR ON THE BANK

dential bubbles, has dreams of his ultimate victory. 'T
think we are authorized, from all that is now before us, to
anticipate confidently General Jackson's defeat. The ques-
tion of who will be the successor may be more doubtful."
Clay at this moment has no doubt. He is merely fishing
for support for his delusion that he will be chosen.

During the Summer and Autumn the country has been
whipped into a frenzy over the determined attitude of the
Nullifiers, and none knows when the explosion will occur
in South Carolina. But Jackson is watching that state and
its leader, Calhoun, with the eye of a lynx.

Meanwhile, the Bank of the United States engages his
attention. Emperor Nicholas is not idle, either. He knows
whom he can depend upon in Congress on the question of
re-charter. Clay, having recouped his fortune, lost in
gambling, has returned to the Senate. The Emperor
breathes easier in his marble palace in Philadelphia. He
feels safe with Clay in Washington.

Congress meets. "We are to have an interesting and an
arduous session," wrote Webster to Clay in the previous
October. ''An array is preparing, much more formidable
than has ever yet assaulted what we think the leading and
important public interests." Daniel means the Bank. He is
almost a seer. The names of many political notables are
called at this session. Among them are: Webster, Clay,
William Marcy, Theodore Frelinghuysen, John M. Clay-
ton, John Tyler, Robert Y. Hayne, John Forsyth, Felix
Grundy, ,Hugh L. White, Benton, Hill. These are in the
Senate. Tyler will become President of the United States.
In the House are John Quincy Adams, former President ;
Rufus Choate, Edward Everett, John Bell, James K. Polk.

341

ANDREW JACKSON

James Buchanan has just resigned to become Minister to
Russia. Jackson's influence will linger with the electorate
long enough to make both Polk and Buchanan Presidents.

Congress sits in rapt attention while Jackson's mes-
sage is being read. They expect him to say something
about Nullification and the Bank. These most explosive
subjects are omitted. The Iron Man in the White House,
now sixty-four years old, enfeebled and ill most of the
time, is employing military strategy. He has built his
breastworks. His batteries are loaded and competently
manned. He is drawing the enemy out into the open and
toward his doom by maintaining a pregnant silence.

Foreign affairs are dwelt upon; the condition of the
nation's finances — the revenue during the year had reached
the unprecedented sum of twenty-seven millions, ex-
penditures exclusive of the public debt would not exceed
fourteen million seven hundred thousand, while sixteen
and a half millions had been paid on the public debt during
the year; the recommendation that a local government be
set up for the District of Columbia, which he urged
should be represented by a delegate in Congress ; railroads,
which had come into being only a few years previously
with a line between Baltimore and Washington, causing
statesmen to believe that the country's transportation
problem had been solved — matters of this nature fill the
President's message.

The Senate confirms the nominations of Jackson's Cab-
inet Ministers, but rejects that of Van Buren as Minister
to Great Britain. The three conspirators — Clay, Calhoun

342

THE WAR ON THE BANK

and Webster — decided upon this course months in ad-
vance. The transparent poUtical charges brought against
Van Buren in his management of the Department of State
have no relation to the real cause of his rejection except
to screen it. The Three Wise Men are looking to the
future. They believe they have destroyed Van Buren's
chances of succeeding Jackson. They have only made that
eventuality the more certain. Benton, nudging a Senator
who votes to reject Van Buren, declares : ''You have
broken a Minister and elected a Vice President."

Nevv's of his rejection reaches Van Buren while he is a
guest at a party given by Prince Talleyrand, now Minister
at the Court of St. James's for Louis Philippe, the new
King of France. Is Martin downcast? Not in the least.
The "Red Fox of Kinderhook" clicks his heels and is
merry at Talleyrand's party. He knows well enough that
he has been thrown into the arms of Fortune — four years
as Vice President and then — President. He cannot miss.
Everyone sees this except the Three Wise Men, whose
hatred of Jackson seems to have blurred their political
perspicacity.

While Congress is about to plunge into the Bank affair,
Sam Houston arrives in Washington and adds a lighter,
if painful, touch to the solemnity. Houston, who as a boy
fought in Jackson's army at the Batde of Tallapoosa, has
been Governor of Tennessee. He is Jackson's friend. Sam
has had domestic troubles aplenty. He is broke, and, hear-
ing that the Indians are to be removed into the West, he
seeks a contract from the government to supply rations to
the Red men about to be removed. Houston's price per
Indian is eighteen cents a day. The Superintendent of In-

343

ANDREW JACKSON

dian Affairs, however, calls the bid absurd, saying the ra-
tions may be supplied, at a profit, for less than seven cents.
Jackson, eager to help Houston, v^ould give him the con-
tract and risk the charge of aiding a grafter. The matter
is aired in Congress, and Houston fails to get what he
came for. But the thing must be evened up somehow, so
Sam waits on a dark street for Congressman William
Stanberry, of Ohio, who had been most bitter in opposing
the contract, and assaults him unmercifully. In due course,
Houston is reprimanded by the House. Also, he is tried in
court for assault and battery and is fined five hundred dol-
lars. Not even the author of the "Star Spangled Banner,"
who is his attorney, can save him.

President Jackson refuses to see his old friend pun-
ished. He orders the fine remitted, ''in consideration of
the premises." To a friend, Jackson declares : "After a
few more examples of the same kind, members of Con-
gress will learn to keep civil tongues in their heads." Sam,
who now bears the title of "The Big Drunk," is on his
uppers. He is stung to the quick by the charge that he had
attempted to be a grafter. He turns to the southwest,
where the winds are unpolluted by politics. He is in Texas
in 1832. Santa Anna leads his Mexicans against the
Alamo and the massacre follows. Sam, who had learned
the art of war under Jackson, is Commanding General in
the war that ensues. Texas declares her independence
from Mexico, which had refused Jackson's offer of five
million dollars to purchase, and Houston carves out an
empire over which he rules as President. Sam, "The Big
Drunk," always devoted to the Union of the states, ever
supported by the mighty power of Andrew Jackson, leads

344

THE WAR ON THE BANK

the delivery of Texas into the Union in 1845, and becomes
her first United States Senator. His caning of a Congress-
man, and the remission of his fine as a rowdy by Jackson,
made him a national figure and provided him with a stage
upon which he played the principal role in the drama of
Texas, and then delivered the whole vast setting to the
nation.

Congress turns its attention from the fortunes of Sam
Houston to the fortunes of Biddle's Bank. The Bank's
friends are in a quandary.

One group favors pushing the issue of re-charter in the
present session. They foresee that a majority can be
mustered in both houses for the Bank, and it is a matter
of now or never. Another group prophesies that, no matter
if re-charter wins in Congress, Jackson will veto the bill,
which its friends cannot carry by a two thirds vote. Em-
peror Nicholas looks to Clay for guidance and gets it. The
first battle is to be fought at this session.

Meanwhile, the National Republicans (who will soon
become known as Whigs) have assembled in convention at
Baltimore and nominated Clay for President, and John
Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, for Vice President. Both are
acknowledged candidates of the Bank, and therefore repre-
sent the financial interests of the country. They look for
support from no other quarter, but they are confident in
what they have.

On January 9, Senator George M. Dallas, of Pennsyl-
vania, presents a lengthy and solemn memorial to the
Senate on behalf of the Bank, asking a renewal of its

345

ANDREW JACKSON

charter. Shrewd minds had combined in the writing of
that paper, which Clay probably edited. If Congress, in its
wisdom, it said, should decree the extinction of the Bank,
the directors would do all in their power to aid in devis-
ing new financial facilities. Could Courtesy and Humility
bow more gracefully than this? Emperor Nicholas is all
grace. He is more than that. He is a genius, for he has
assembled the oratorical meteors of the nation and placed
them in the halls of Congress where for six months they
sing and chant the praises of the Bank. Ferocity, arro-
gance and downright mean speech also play their part with
the defenders and the opponents of the Bank.

In the White House, sits an old and lonely man, smok-
ing his pipe. He reads the same Bible that Rachel had read
many an evening by the firelight while he was away at
war; or maybe at home, polishing his pistols for the next
fray — public or private. He looks long and tenderly at the
miniature of his beloved dead. There is a knock at the
door. The General says, ''Step in, sir."

It is Major Lewis, or Donelson, just returned from the
Capitol. Benton is making the speech of his career, de-
molishing the Bank and the Emperor who rules over it.
Ike Hill, too, has made a great speech. The General's face
lights up with friendliness and admiration when these
names are mentioned. Clay — Calhoun — Webster — ! his
face grows dark and his deep blue eyes fill with fire and
wrath. ''Major, we will crush them and their damned
Bank — by the Eternal !" He whacks his desk with his fist.
Then he seems to catch himself growing angry, and in a
twinkling he is softer. He remembers that Rachel never
liked to hear him swear, and she rarely saw him when he

346

THE WAR ON THE BANK

was hopping mad. And now he thinks that she, away, far
away somewhere, sees and hears him — and he becomes
softer.

Finally, Speaker Stephenson, anti-Bank, names a com-
mittee to investigate the Bank. Four of the members are
opposed to re-charter, three are Biddle men. The gentle-
men pass a month at the marble palace in Philadelphia, and
at the end of two months are unable to agree. They sub-
mit three reports. The majority opposes re-charter. Two
reports exonerate the Bank from all charge of miscon-
duct. John Quincy Adams submits one of the reports
single handed. Adams declares the Bank "has been con-
ducted with as near an approach of perfect wisdom as the
imperfection of human nature permits." For these cool
and cultured words, Adams earns the lasting contempt of
General Jackson. It develops in the course of the inquiry
that the Bank has subsidized several newspapers and other-
wise distributed its largess quite freely into political cor-
ners — dark as well as bright. But the Administration can-
not make capital out of these accusations, since it has done
both.

The bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States
passes the Senate on June ii, by a vote of twenty-eight to
twenty. The House takes similar action on July 3, by a
vote of one hundred and nine to seventy-six. The next day
the bill is laid before the President. He vetoes it and re-
turns it to Congress within a week.

The Veto Message is one of the longest that Jackson
ever sent to Congress. In a word, his message might be

347

ANDREW JACKSON

summed up : Monopoly. He emphasizes that eight milHons
of the Bank's stock is held by foreigners ; that a renewal
of the charter raises the market value of that stock twenty
or thirty per cent. Hence America will make a present to
foreign stockholders of millions of dollars.

If the United States is to bestow this monopoly then it
should receive a fair price for it. Also, the act excludes
competition. Others have offered to take a charter on more
favorable terms.

The bill, says Jackson, concedes to banks dealing with
the Bank of the United States what it denies to individuals.
"The Bank an d its brand 2esjia3;£.-e3:ect€d-atr-i[i^t€f€sr sepa-
i:ate from that of the people," he declares.

He asserts that the stock owned by foreigners can not
be taxed, which gives such stock a value of ten or fifteen
per cent greater than that held by American citizens. Al-
though nearly a third of the Bank's stock is held by for-
eigners, foreigners have neither voice nor vote in the
election of its officials. The moneyed men of the nation
are throttling the country by holding within their hands
the republic's financial resources.

Then follows a typical Jacksonian observation : Should
the stock ever pass principally into the hands of the sub-
jects of a foreign country, and we should become involved
in a war with that country, the interests and feelings of
the Bank's directors will be opposed to those of their
countrymen.

"Experience should teach us wisdom," says the Presi-
dent. "Most of the difficulties our government now en-
counters, and most of the dangers which impend over our
Union, have sprung from an abandonment of the legiti-

348

THE WAR ON THE BANK

mate objects of government by our national legislation,
and the adoption of such principles as are embodied in this
act.

"Many of our rich men have not been content with
equal protection and equal benefits, but have besought us
to make them richer by act of Congress. By attempting to
gratify their desires, we have, in the results of our legisla-
tion, arrayed section against section, interest against in-
terest, and man against man, in a fearful commotion which
threatens to shake the foundations of our Union.

*Tt is time to pause in our career, to review our prin-
ciples, and, if possible, revive that devoted patriotism and
spirit of compromise which distinguished the sages of the
Revolution, and the fathers of our Union. If we can not
at once, in justice to the interests vested under improvi-
dent legislation, make our own government what it ought
to be, we can, at least, take a stand against all new grants
of monopolies and exclusive privileges, against any prosti-
tution of our government to the adyancement of the few
at the expense of the many, and in favor of compromise
and gradual reform in our code of laws and system of
political economy."

In furnishing the basic ideas for this message, which
Secretary Livingston and Amos Kendall probably wrote,
Jackson approaches as closely as he ever approached to
Jeffersonian principles. His is a far more militant de-
mocracy. He lives in the present, and is a man of terrible
realities. He ventures here the suggestion of political
philosophy. It made the Bank men laugh. They have the

349

ANDREW JACKSON

message printed and circulated as a campaign document
in behalf of Henry Clay. They say the message proves the
Old Man is losing his mind. They do not yet perceive they
are losing their bank.

350

^^<^

Chapter XXVIII

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLI
FIERS

IN August, the President, accompanied by Blair and
Earle, the latter "the King's painter," leave Washing-
ton for Nashville. Jackson pays his traveling expenses
with gold. ''No more paper money, you see, fellow citizens,
if I can only put down this Nicholas Biddle and his
monster Bank," he remarks to friends. The President and
his party remain at the Hermitage until October. While
he communes with the spirit of Rachel, the bitterest cam-
paign that has ever been waged takes the country by storm.
Tons of pamphlets of all sizes and dealing with all man-
ner of issues flood the country. The Bank disburses eighty
thousand dollars — a stupendous sum in 1832 — in behalf
of Clay's candidacy. The Democrats appear to have against
them the best talent of the country. The business and
financial titans are against Jackson. Leading citizens
representing these groups fear financial paralysis and eco-
nomic stagnation will ensue if Jackson is re-elected and
pursues his warfare against the Bank, which they are cer-
tain he will do.

351

ANDREW JACKSON

The Democratic convention meets at Baltimore. Jackson
is duly nominated, with Van Buren as his running mate.
The battle is on. Every conceivable charge is brought
forth against Jackson. There is but one feature missing
that distinguishes this campaign from 1828. Nothing is
said about adultery. The Democratic press and campaign-
ers are equally vehement and venomous. One or two
Democratic papers, evidently bought off by the Bank, go
over to the enemy. Jackson's friends believe he will win in
a close race, while Clay and the Bank are certain that the
country realizes the peril of the President's course and will
repudiate him.

The result astonishes Jackson and his party as much as
it does the country. The General receives two hundred
and nineteen electoral votes. Clay receives forty-nine. The
popular vote is 707,217 for Jackson; 328,561 for Clay.
Jackson carries sixteen states to Clay's six.

With the approval of his policies thus secured, the
President proceeds without delay to complete them. He
is resolved to dispatch these major issues: the Bank must
be crushed, root and branch, and a new system installed
for the handling of the federal currency; Nullification
must be destroyed as a doctrine, and the rebel states taught
that secession is an offence against the vyhole Union;
France must be forced to begin payment of an indemnity
for losses to American vessels during the Napoleonic
wars ; the national debt shall be wiped out.

The President has scarcely received his second mandate
from the people when South Carolina, which had withheld
her vote from him and thrown it away on a hopeless can-
didate, is aflame with the Nullification doctrine. For some

352

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

time past this issue, as if by consent, had given precedence
to the Bank dispute. Now it is Biddle's turn to give way to
the NulHfiers, who hate the tariff, despise Andrew Jack-
son and disHke the Federal Union.

Nullification is not a new doctrine in the United States.
When the Alien and Sedition laws were passed in 1798,
at the instigation of President John Adams, the legisla-
tures of Virginia and Kentucky adopted resolutions, of
which Jefferson and Madison were the chief authors, de-
claring that when the federal government assumed powers
not delegated by the states, **a nullification of the act was
the rightful remedy." The resolutions declared further,
however, that the act nullified must be ^'palpably against
the Constitution." Jackson, as a United States Senator in
1798, voted against the Alien and Sedition Bill and de-
nounced Adams as a tyrant.

South Carolina in 1832, however, puts its own con-
struction upon the resolutions of 1798. It holds that any
state may nullify any act of Congress which it deems
unconstitutional. Calhoun, the idol of his state, proposes
nullification of the Tariff Law, through the operation of
which the nation must secure its revenue, merely because
the Tariff Law is objectionable to South Carolina. That
state, therefore, has arrogated to itself the right to dictate
to the Union the kind of laws it shall have so that South
Carolina might be pleased, other states notwithstanding.
Calhoun and the Nullifiers go even further. They assert
the Supreme Court may not pass upon the matter because
the Supreme Court is the creature of the majority, the

353

ANDREW JACKSON

same as Congress ; and the object of Nullification is to re-
sist the encroachments of the majority on the question of
the Revenue Law.

South Carolina is not alone in upholding the Nullifica-
tion doctrine. North CaroHna, Virginia and Georgia favor
it, but only to the extent of petitioning Congress for a
redress of their grievances. Not one of these states sup-
ports South Carolina in its extreme attitude.

President Jackson's comment to a friend is this : *'If
this thing goes on our country will be like a bag of meal
with both ends open. Pick it up in the middle or endwise,
it will run out."

The depressed South looks with envious eyes upon the
prosperous North. Everywhere in the North cities and
towns are springing up, and the wilderness of western
New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois is vanishing with
the steady stride of plowmen and surveyors. Factories
seem to grow like mushrooms and a new condition of
labor is brought into being.

The factory worker has appeared, and with him the
clerk. And these w0rlaii€ii-areaijQti)Qnd^sery^rits^
South, .In the South, cotton and tobacco, their chief
products, are down. Corn, wheat and pork likewise are
depressed in market value. The South contends that the
prices of the products which it has to sell rise too slowly
to make up for the increased price of the commodities
which it has to buy. It virtually gives up in despair. There
is not even enough energy to find original names for their
new towns. The maps of the Old World are consulted, and
new American communities are named Utica, Rome,
Naples, Berlin, Palermo, Madrid, Paris, Elba and Egypt.

354

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

In Alabama many of the counties are named after the
scenes of Napoleon's battles.

There is yet another reason for the apparent desola-
tion and disquiet in the South. Slavery! In the North,
every one may go to his labor without loss of pride. In the
South, white men may not offer their hands to manual
toil, for that is the lot of the Negro. The South in 1832 is
beset with pride. The North in 1832 whistles as it works
and is rewarded with progress. The South steadfastly re-
fuses to beheve that slavery is a liability instead of an
asset. It refuses to see that an inherent economic weakness,
partly produced by compulsory labor, is an affliction
neither engendered nor aggravated by the Tariff Law.

John Tyler, whom the accident of death will make a
President, declares the protective tariff is the cause of the
South's calamity and decay. '*We buy dear and sell cheap."
The tariff, he asserts, diminishes the demands for the
South's products abroad, and raises the price of all it must
buy to live. This is the cry of the South and the cause of
the Nullification doctrine which Andrew Jackson is now
called upon to face on the eve of his second term.

3
It is quite possible that Jackson and his closest advisers
are too willing to view Nullification as a personal issue be-
tween Calhoun and the President. They accuse Calhoun of
seeking to rise upon the ruins of his country and reigning
in South' Carolina rather than serving the republic. They
say he began it and continues it. To his dying day, Jack-
son will express his regret that he did not have Calhoun
hanged for treason. **My country would have sustained

355

ANDREW JACKSON

me in the act/* Jackson will say on the brink of the grave,
"and his fate would have been a warning to traitors in
all time to come." Is Calhoun such a terrible fellow? In
Washington he has a reputation of being amicable, gra-
cious and fascinating. His rivals hate him because they
fear him. There are legions who love him and would fol-
low him anywhere.

It is early Autumn. The South Carolina legislature calls
a convention of citizens to consider the Tariff Law and to
suggest a course to be pursued by the state. The conven-
tion meets November 19, at Columbia. One hundred and
forty-five delegates are present. Respectability is every-
where in evidence. In the course of its labors, the conven-
tion adopts an Ordinance, the substance of which is that
the Tariff Law so far as it affects South Carolina is null
and void, and that no duties enjoined by that law shall
be paid by.Jiie state after February i, 1833. Also, it will
not permit any appeal to be made to the Supreme Court on
the question of the validity of the expected Nullifying Act
of the legislature. If the government attempts to enforce
the Tariff Law in South Carolina by means of military
or naval force, then the state no longer will consider her-
self a member of the Federal Union, but will organize a
separate government and proceed to the business of self-
defence.

In December, Robert Y. Hayne is elected Governor,
and his seat in the Senate is promptly snapped up by Cal-
houn, who resigns the Vice Presidency three months be-
fore his term expires. Governor Hayne's first message to
the legislature is what might be expected, since he was
chosen by Nullifiers. His remarks are belligerent and ex-

356

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

treme, containing considerable reference to ^'the sacred
soil of Carolina" and what she will do if ''the sacred soil
should be polluted by the footsteps of an invader, or be
stained with the blood of her citizens/*

The legislature passes acts for carrying the Ordinance
into effect, and the Governor is authorized to accept the
services of volunteers. The state is preparing for war.
Even the women are showing their colors. Calhoun is
spoken of as the 'Tirst President of the Southern Con-
federacy." Thus the South has anticipated the advent of
old Jeff Davis by some thirty years and seems to be bent
on robbing him of his role.

The Nullifiers, now embarked upon their warlike course,
seem to have reckoned without regard for one of the most
persistent and purposeful of men who ever have occupied
the Presidency. Hayne should know better, for his brother,
Arthur, was Inspector-General under Jackson in the War
of 1812. Despite the utter lack of anything approaching
adequate transportation and communication facilities,
Jackson is kept fully informed by couriers on horseback
of all that is transpiring in the rebellious state; and two
weeks in advance of the convention at Columbia, the
President sent secret orders to the Collector of the Port
at Charleston, instructing that official to "resort to all
means provided by the law," aided by a fleet of revenue
cutters, ''to counteract the measures which may be
adopted."

In addition to this, Jackson sends General Winfield
Scott on a secret mission to Charleston to superintend the
safety of the ports, and to ascertain what troops and naval
forces may be required to put down a possible rebellion.

357

ANDREW JACKSON

Congress meets on December 3. In the President's mes-
sage virtually no mention is made of South Carolina. The
nation's income for the year would reach twenty-eight
millions, and the expenditures sixteen and a half millions;
payments on the public debt, eighteen millions. Jackson
tells Congress that on January i, 1833, less than seven
millions will remain of the public debt, and this will be
extinguished in the course of that year. He requests Con-
gress to revise the tariff so as to reduce the revenue to the
necessities of government ; but the manufacturing iiiterests
must not be injured. However, Jackson declares ''manu-
facturing establishments can not expect that the people will
continue permanently to pay high taxes for their benefit,
when the money is not required for any legitimate pur-
pose in the administration of the government. Is it not
enough that the high duties have been paid as long as the
money arising from them could be applied to the common
benefit in the extinguishment of the public debt?" Obvi-
ously this pronouncement is intended to meet the Nullifiers
half way.

Jackson again reverts to the question of the Bank of the
United States. He asks that an inquiry be instituted to
ascertain if the public deposits in Emperor Nicholas's
marble palace are entirely safe. He recommends that the
federal government relinquish the ownership of public
lands to the states within whose borders they may be,
urging that public lands should no longer be made a source
of revenue, but should be sold to actual settlers, in small
parcels, at a price sufficient to pay the cost of surveying

358

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

and selling. Thus Jackson aids in settling the western do-
main and ''planting it with men," which was the policy
of King James I toward the North of Ireland, and re-
sulted in Jackson's Scotch ancestors founding a homestead
in Carrickfergus.

Once more he recommends that the President and Vice
President be elected by direct vote of the people and their
tenure limited to a single term. While Congress listens
to this placid message it does not know that Jackson with
his own hand has written an immortal document, a chal-
lenge to South Carolina, whose proceedings published in
a pamphlet have reached him and aroused all the fire of
his tempestuous nature. It is the famous Proclamation.
Secretary Livingston takes the President's large sheets
and revamps the text into a state paper. It bears the date
of December lo. It is at once an argument, an entreaty, a
warning and a challenge.

The President, in his Proclamation, concedes that the
Tariff Law complained of does not operate equally. ''The
wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation
that would operate with perfect equality," he asserts. "If
the unequal operation of law makes it unconstitutional,
and if all laws of that description may be abrogated by any
state for that cause, then indeed is the Federal Constitu-
tion unworthy of the slightest effort for its preservation."
Jackson forcefully denies the right of a state to secede.
/""^'l consider," he declares, "the power to annul a law of
/ the United States, assumed by one state, incompatible with
/ the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the
^ letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, incon-
( sistent with every principle on which it was founded, and
^ 359

ANDREW JACKSON

destructive of the great object for which it was formed."
''The Constitution of the United States," he affirms,
"forms a government, not a league; and whether it be
formed by compact between the states, or in any other
manner, its character is the same. It is a government in
which all the people are represented, which operates di-
rectly on the people individually, not upon the states;
they retain all the power they did not grant. But each
state having expressly parted with so many powers as to
constitute, jointly with the other states, a single nation,
can not from that period possess any right to secede, be-
cause such secession does not break a league, but destroys
the unity of a nation; and any injury to that unity is not
only a breach which would result from the contravention
of a compact, but it is an offence against the whole
Union."

"Fellow citizens of my native state ! (Perhaps the Presi-
dent does not know he was born in North Carolina.) Let
me not only admonish you, as the first magistrate of our
common country, not to incur the penalty of its laws, but
use the influence that a father would over his children
whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal
language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my
countrymen, that you are deluded by men who are either
deceived themselves, or wish to deceive you. . . .

"The laws of the United States must be executed. I
have no discretionary power on the subject — my duty is
emphatically pronounced in the Constitution. Those who
told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution,
deceived you — they could not have deceived themselves.
They know that a forcible opposition could alone prevent

360

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

the execution of the laws, and they know that such op-
position must be repelled. Their object is disunion, but be
not deceived by names; disunion, by armed force is
TREASON. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you
are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dread-
ful consequences — on their heads be the dishonor, but on
yours may fall the punishment. . . ."

The Proclamation rolls on — each word a peal of
thunder, each paragraph a warning of bolts of lightning
which are gathering behind the clouds of war that An-
drew Jackson is prepared to loosen at the first overt act
against the government of the United States. He is ex-
hibiting himself in his best form as a patriot.

What does the country think of this? Mass meetings
are held throughout the North, indorsing Jackson's firm-
ness. The boldness of the Proclamation has electrified the
nation. Sickness, almost unto death, can not tame the fiery
heart of this one hundred per cent American.

The South Carolina legislature answers this challenge
by calling upon the citizens of the state to ignore the *'at-
tempt of the President to seduce them from their alle-
giance," and to ''disregard his vain menaces." Governor
Hayne issues a proclamation in the same key. The state is
placed on a war footing, or nearly so. A red flag with a
black star in the center is adopted as the ensign of the
volunteer regiments. The flag of the United States is
flown upside down.

As the proclamation of Governor Hayne reaches Wash-
ington, Jackson immediately sends a special message to

361

ANDREW JACKSON

Congress asking for an increase of his powers to meet
the possible collision, scheduled to commence February i,
less than six weeks off. A bill is prepared promptly and
presented. It is known as the Force Bill. Meanwhile, Cal-
houn arrives in Washington to take his seat as Senator.
While leading the secession movement, he can still take the
oath to uphold the Constitution, which he is striving to
puncture with rebellion. Many of his former friends turn
from him in disgust and contempt. After the message is
read, Calhoun rises to speak. He declares he is still devoted
to the Union, and that if the government were restored to
the principles of 1798, the year of the muzzle law, he
would not question its authority.

The Force Bill is passed by both houses late in Febru-
ary. No hostilities have occurred. Jackson watches South
Carolina like a panther about to spring upon its quarry.
At the first treasonable act he has decided to seize Cal-
houn on the charge of high treason, and hang him. South
Carolina's nullifying Congressmen may be similarly dealt
with. Federal troops are in that state ready to strike.
Jackson has expressed the wish that, as Commander-in-
Chief of the Army and Navy, he might be permitted to
take the field and personally lead them. The Old Warrior !
How he loves the smell of powder, and delights in the
spectacle of the crushed and bleeding forms of his foes.

But civil war is another matter. Accordingly, Jackson,
without retreating a jot from his determination to put
down rebellion should it occur, is willing to compromise in
the matter of the Tariff Law. Accordingly, an Adminis-
tration bill is prepared and introduced by Gulian C. Ver-
planck, of New York, providing for the reduction of

362

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

duties to the revenue standard. The Verplanck Bill is
calculated to reduce the revenue thirteen millions of dol-
lars, and to afford manufacturers about as much protec-
tion as they had obtained under the Tariff Law of 1816.
The bill thus destroys most of what Clay and the protec-
tionists had obtained over a period of sixteen years. The
business interests are panic-stricken. They foresee their
profits gone glimmering. Unemployment and stagnation,
they say, will result from this bill.

The Verplanck Bill seems to meet the objections of
South Carolina and the other southern states. Webster,
standing firmly by Jackson on the Nullification issue, but
opposed to him on the Bank, declares the Constitution is
on trial, and that no Tariff Law should be passed as long
as South Carolina challenges the sovereignty of the fed-
eral government. At heart, this is Jackson's attitude ; but
the President does not wish to risk a civil war if it can be
averted with a little yielding.

The business interests turn to Clay, and the Kentuckian
drafts a Compromise Bill for the regulation of the tariff.
The Clay Bill differs from the Administration measure
chiefly in the fact that it proposes a gradual reduction of
duties, and leaves the writing of a new tariff measure for
a calmer day.

Obviously, Verplanck's bill should please Calhoun, for it
directly conciliates the Nullifiers. But Calhoun also wants
to please Big Business, for he still hopes to be President
some day. Moreover, he does not wish to break from
Clay for that would isolate him completely. Also, he seeks
a way out from his perilous position. So the zealous Nul-
lifier turns thumbs down on his own state and votes for the

363

ANDREW JACKSON

Clay Compromise. The bill is passed, and Jackson, who is
expected to veto it, signs it. Thus Andrew Jackson has
postponed the Civil War for twenty-three years.

It is Summer, 1833. Jackson is again regarded as the
savior of his country. This time he has not won a war,
but has averted one. He decides to travel and meet the
people. Everywhere he is acclaimed. It is during this Sum-
mer that he receives word of the death of his old friend,
General John Coffee. The President's own health is pre-
carious. Major Lewis and Donelson sometimes despair
of the President finishing his term. He is afflicted with
bleeding of the lungs — tuberculosis.

Before he starts out on his tour he makes two important
shifts in his Cabinet. Livingston is sent to France as Min-
ister to force a settlement of the government's spoliation
claims arising from the Napoleonic wars. Jackson is deter-
mined that France shall begin to pay this debt before he
leaves office. Four previous Administrations have failed
even to get France to recognize the debt. But Jackson
negotiates a treaty in which France stipulates to pay the
United States five millions in six annual installments.

The United States agrees to the reduction of duties on
French wines. America fulfills her part of the treaty.
France does nothing. Jackson is impatient. He will be re-
quired to threaten France with war before she is willing
to begin payment. Livingston goes on this errand. It is
Jackson's firmness that brings France to terms and crushes
the opposition at home in two years.

Louis McLane, Secretary of the Treasury, and a Bank

364

RE-ELECTION AND THE NULLIFIERS

sympathizer, is moved to the State Department. WilHam
J. Duane, Philadelphia lawyer, becomes Secretary of the
Treasury.

In June, the President and his party travel northward.
In Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, Elizabeth, New
York, Boston and on through New England, the President
receives the adulations of the people.

Harvard College confers upon him the degree of Doctor
of Laws, and one of the seniors addresses the President in
Latin. The students applaud vociferously. The President
does not know what it is all about and cares less. To him
such a degree is an empty honor. A student seeks to make
sport of Jackson and asks him to reply — in Latin. The
President is slightly taken off his guard. He rises to his
feet and says :

'^E pluribus unum, my friends, sine qua non !"

The embittered Adams writes in his Diary of the Har-
vard incident. Ever afterward he refers to the President
as Doctor Jackson. In his Diary, Adams spitefully writes :
"Four fifths of his sickness is trickery, and the other fifth
mere fatigue. He is so ravenous of notoriety that he
craves the sympathy for sickness as a portion of his glory."

But then, Adams was not present in the hotel in Boston
where Jackson lay almost at death's door, bleeding in the
lungs, and wondering if he would live until he reached
Washington so that he might deliver the final and crush-
ing blow to Mr. Biddle's Bank.

365

Chapter XXIX
THE END OF THE REIGN

BIDDLE refuses to believe the Bank is about to die.
He has the attitude of a condemned man on the last
night. Something must, something will, intervene to stay
the hand of the executioner. But nothing does. The Bank
has resented the charge of Benton and other Jackson lead-
ers that it has spent its money freely among members of
Congress to influence their votes for re-charter. Still, the
sinister aspect of the relationship is common knowledge.
Clay, an eminent lawyer, is the Bank's adviser both in the
Senate and privately. Clay's eloquence and skill are costly.
Jackson men can not be blamed for asserting that the
Bank is Clay's most prosperous client.

There is Webster — the great Daniel — writing to Em-
peror Nicholas that he has rejected professional employ-
ment against the Bank and adding: *T believe my retainer
has not been renewed or refreshed as usual. H it be wished
that my relation to the Bank should be continued, it may
be well to send me the usual retainers."

Two of the most powerful men who ever sat in the Sen-
ate chamber are at the same time, attorneys for the Bank
which Jackson is trying to crush as a matter of public

366

THE END OF THE REIGN

policy. Jackson's tactics may be wrong, but the principle
is correct. When the President charges that the Bank is a
corrupt institution and that it should not be permitted to
handle the government's deposits with which to employ
members of Congress to defend it, he has reference to
precisely what Webster's letter attests.

Jackson is determined to deal the Bank a crippling blow
before Congress meets, as he fears that Biddle will be able
to command a two-thirds majority at the next session.
Word goes forth from the White House to Blair's
"Globe" and through that source to the Jackson press
throughout the country that the Bank is insolvent. The
market price of the Bank's stock drops six per cent as the
result of the report. As a fact, the Bank is far from in-
solvent. Jackson could easily satisfy himself on that point,
but he does not take the trouble so to do. The first idea
is fixed in his mind, and Biddle's statisticians are the last
persons who will be able to remove it.

President Jackson proposes to remove the government
deposits from the marble palace and its twenty-five
branches, and deposit the money in a similar number of
state banks. Of course he does not intend actually to seize
bags of currency — totalling nearly ten millions — from
these banks and re-depositing the money. The government
will simply cease depositing money with Biddle and draw
out the balance in his vaults as the public service requires.
Major Lewis is opposed to this plan. It is one of the few
times that Lewis has disagreed firmly with his chief, and
holds his ground. The men who are behind Jackson's plan
are Blair, Kendall, Taney and Benton. The whole Cabinet,
with the exception of Taney, opposes the drastic meas-

367

ANDREW JACKSON

ure. But Jackson's view of all his official advisers has
been that they are mere bureau heads except when they
agree with him. Then they are his Ministers. On many
important measures he does not even consult them.

Lewis tries to dissuade Jackson from the course he is
about to take. Lewis foresees a panic if the financial
system is radically disturbed, and he knows the blame will
fall upon the President's head. Also, he fears that a panic
might result disastrously to Van Buren's chances of suc-
cession. Lewis is a far-sighted man; he has many more
qualities of statesmanship than some of the statesmen who
curl their lips and call him a wire-puller. Lewis asks Jack-
son what he would do if Congress ordered him to leave
the deposits in Biddle's Bank and move an impeachment
should he touch them.

''Under such circumstances," Jackson says with defiance,
''then sir, I would resign the Presidency and return to
the Hermitage."

As Jackson returns from his Summer vacation tour in
1833, ^^^ is determined upon his course with respect to
the Bank. In due time. Secretary of the Treasury Duane
receives a request from Jackson to appoint "a discreet
agent" to proceed to various cities and consult with the
heads of state banks upon the practicability of receiving
the federal deposits. Jackson follows this with a long
statement, more or less detailed, of how the plan is to be
worked out if the state banks agree to take the govern-
ment's money. The President already has decided that the

368

THE END OF THE REIGN

''discreet agent" who will make this investigation will be
Amos Kendall.

Duane, a conservative Philadelphia lawyer, sizes up this
scheme as the wildest financial chatter he has ever heard.
He writes the President that it cannot be done, at least he
is opposed to having a hand in it. The President replies
that Duane does not have to take the responsibilty, that
Jackson takes it himself, but that the job must be done
through the Secretary of the Treasury. A series of letters
pass between Jackson and Duane, with the result that
Duane is relieved of his post. Meanwhile, Kendall has
made his tour and presented his report.

Jackson calls a meeting of the Cabinet in September.
He assures his Ministers that the state banks are ready
to receive the federal deposits. "Why, then, should we
hesitate?" he asks. ''Why not proceed as the country ex-
pects us to?" Kendall's report is given to the Cabinet to
study. A week later, the President calls the Cabinet and
solicits their view. None approves the removal of the de-
posits except Taney. The President asks the Cabinet to as-
semble on the morrow. At that session he reads to them
the famous "Cabinet Paper," which reviews the history
of his war against the Bank, and announces that he intends
to take complete responsibility for the removal of the de-
posits.

On the same day that Duane retires, the President
shifts Taney, the Attorney General, to the Treasury De-
partment as Secretary. Three days after he takes ofifice,
Taney signs the order directing the government collectors
and employees to deposit the government's money in the

369

ANDREW JACKSON

state banks designated. Benjamin F. Butler, of New York,
Van Buren's friend, is named Attorney General.

Shortly after the exit of Duane from the Cabinet, Blair
writes in the "Globe" : "Mr. Duane was dismissed for
faithlessness to his solemn pledges, and for the exhibition
of bad feeling, which made him totally unfit for the station
to which he had been elevated. He was not dismissed
merely for refusing to remove the deposits."

If there is honor among thieves, can the same be said of
politicians? Blair brazenly misrepresents this incident and
does Duane great injustice in order to serve Jackson and
the party. Duane had the moral courage to stand up to
Jackson and permit himself to be sacrificed rather than do
an act as Secretary of the Treasury which, had he obeyed
his master, might have won him the robes of a Supreme
Court Justice. For Jackson never permitted personal serv-
ice to him to go unrewarded.

The Bank is incensed over Jackson's "Cabinet Paper,"
which is published in the Administration organs, but is
not communicated to Congress. The Bank admits it has
spent fourteen thousand dollars a year in "self-defence."
Jacksonian editors seize upon this as substantiating their
contention that the Bank is corrupt. Still, there is Kendall,
an Auditor in the Treasury, and at the same time a paid
writer for the "Globe" at eight hundred dollars a year,
paid to him to defend the Administration. Jackson is
shrewd. He surrounds himself with a group of gatling-
gun press agents and provides them with government jobs,
both to insure their loyalty and control their pens. He is
the first President to utilize these newspaper "spokes-
men."

370

THE END OF THE REIGN

To meet the removal of government deposits, Emperor
Nicholas adopts the policy of curtailment. He decides to
decrease the loans of the Bank to the extent of the aver-
age amount of public money held by it. The process is
gradual, but is sufficient to cause similar curtailment on
the part of those state banks which are not depositaries
of the public money. This curtailment of loans all along
the line brings a sharp and sudden reaction. There are
many failures, much distress and general protest. Jackson
holds to his course.

The twenty-third Congress assembles on December 2,
and from that day until June 30, 1834, virtually no
subject is debated except the Bank. In his message, Jack-
son points to the prosperity of the country. The govern-
ment's receipts are thirty-two milHons, and the expendi-
tures will not exceed twenty-five millions. The national
debt has been reduced to a figure that will be discharged
within the year. For the fifth time, Jackson urges the elec-
tion of the President and Vice President by direct vote
of the people, and for a single term.

At this session, also, Jackson vetoes Clay's Land Bill,
and again brings down upon his head the combined vi-
olence of the opposition. Clay's bill provides for the dis-
tribution among the states of the proceeds from the sales
of public lands. Jackson was opposed to it from the day
of its introduction. He contends, and rightly, that the bill
would proiliote in every state a sinister interest in keeping
up the price of land, so that each commonwealth might
swell its own coffers at the expense of the actual settlers

371

ANDREW JACKSON

coming to purchase. Jackson declares that the labor of
the settler alone gives value to land, and that the specu-
lator contributes nothing but hardship for the settler.

The laboring masses, and those about to drive new-
stakes into the virgin soil and rear homesteads where
once the wilderness maintained its primeval sway, again
have cause to shout, ''Hurrah for Jackson." At many
turns, the backw^oodsman in the White House portrays
evidence of familiarity with social and economic causes
and their effect. He is building for himself a monument,
though he does not know it, that will endure perhaps for
centuries, and be known as Jacksonian Democracy.
Future politicians, seeking to emerge as statesmen, will
lean upon this shaft.

It is rather difficult for spectators in the crowded gal-
leries of the Senate to decide which of the two wars —
Clay versus Jackson, or the government versus the Bank —
has precedence in the perfervid oratory. Clay at once opens
fire. He introduces a resolution demanding that the Presi-
dent be requested to transmit to the Senate the ''Cabinet
Paper." In his reference to the Bank of the United States,
Clay insists upon calling it the federal treasury, which is
intended as a sneer at Jackson. The resolution is adopted,
twenty-three to eighteen. Jackson storms when he hears
of it.

"I have yet to learn," he informs the Senate, "under
what constitutional authority that branch of the legisla-
ture has a right to require of me an account of any com-
munication, either verbally or in writing, made to the
heads of departments acting as a Cabinet council."

This blunt defiance of the Senate's equally blunt re-

37^

THE END OF THE REIGN

quest is followed by another resolution introduced by
Clay, calling upon Congress to censure the President for
dismissing Duane and removing the deposits. The Senate
spends three months violently debating the proposal to
censure, which consists of thirty-four words. It is finally
adopted as follows :

"Resolved, that the President, in the late executive pro-
ceedings, in relation to the public revenue, has assumed
upon himself authority and power not conferred by the
Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both."

Clay, speaking for his resolution, declares Jackson is
guilty of "open, palpable and daring usurpation." He as-
serts that time and again Jackson has seized the powers of
government — executive, legislative and judicial, and now
grabs the public purse as "Caesar had seized the treasury
of Rome." He makes bitter reference to Jackson's con-
duct in the Seminole War, and treads violently upon other
episodes of Jackson's career.

Jackson is so enraged as he reads Clay's speech that he
bites the end off his pipe. "Oh, if I live to get these robes
of office off me, I will bring the rascal to a dear account,"
he exclaims. Calhoun's attack is even more violent, but
this gentleman seems to have sunk far beneath Jackson's
contempt and hatred, with which qualities he is generously
endowed. Webster, of course, supports Clay's resolution.
His speech is ponderous and forceful, but it lacks the
offensive features. Three weeks later, the President sends
to the Senate a lengthy protest against the resolution, and
that body consumes another month in angry debate as to

373

ANDREW JACKSON

whether or not it will accept the protest. It votes to ignore
it. Benton spends the next two years of his Senatorial
labors trying to have the Censure Resolution expunged.
Finally, Benton succeeds, and Jackson regards this victory
as second only to the Battle of New Orleans, because he
believes he has whipped Clay, Calhoun and Webster with-
out firing a shot.

Where is the Bank in all this flood of invective? The
Bank is gasping for breath under Jackson's death-clutch.
He has announced the appointment of fifteen state banks
as pension agents for the government, and served notice
upon Emperor Nicholas that this entire business be turned
over to the banks designated. The President demands the
immediate surrender of all books and papers relating to
the pensions, and half a million dollars in the bank's
vaults which will meet the next payments. Biddle flatly re-
fuses to surrender either books or money. Jackson flings
a special message to Congress, declaring the Bank is at-
tempting to defeat the measures of the Administration.
The Senate replies by passing another set of resolutions,
asserting that Congress, and not the President, has the
power to remove the agency for the payment of pensions.

Apparently blocked at every turn. General Jackson ad-
heres to his single purpose to destroy the Bank, and he
wins.

In the manufacturing and business sections of the
country, however, the distress seems to be acute. How
much of this is merely Bank propaganda is a question for
conjecture. Jackson is of the belief that no honest men are

374

THE END OF THE REIGN

failing in business ; that those who are hard pressed are the
stock brokers and other speculators, and for this class he
has no sympathy whatsoever. Albeit, petitions by the thou-
sand roll in upon the President and members of Congress.
They are for and against the removal of deposits. Some of
these petitions appear to be genuine. These are from
groups of workmen and their families, who say they have
lost their jobs as the result of retrenchment.

The White House becomes the stamping ground for
delegations from all sections of the country. Poverty and
riches plead with the President to change his course. To
all he says : ''Why do you come here ? Go to Biddle, he has
the money. We have none. The distress of which you com-
plain is due solely to Biddle and his monster Bank."

Jackson, usually patient with masses of people and will-
ing to hear and heed their complaints, is aroused as the
petitions and the delegations show no abatement. To one
group he shouts : 'Tn the name of God, what do the
people think to gain by sending their memorials here? If
they send ten thousand of them, signed by all the men,
women and children in the land, and bearing the names
of all on the grave-stones, I will not relax a particle from
my position."

To one bewildered deputation, he declares : "Am I to
violate my constitutional oath? Is it to be expected that
I am to be turned from my purpose ? Is Andrew Jackson
to bow the knee to the golden calf, as did the Israelites of
old? I tell you, if you want relief, go to Nicholas Biddle!"

In the midst of all this. Clay rises in the Senate. He ad-
dresses himself to Van Buren, not as Vice President, but
as the friend of Andrew Jackson. Clay's speech is wet

Z7S

ANDREW JACKSON

with tears wrung from his passionate heart as he recites
the miseries that will surely result from Jackson's course.
He says much about "helpless widows" and ''unclad and
unfed orphans who have been driven by his policy out of
the busy pursuits in which but yesterday they were gaining
an honest livelihood."

''Entreat him to pause," wails the Kentuckian, "and to
reflect that there is a point beyond which human endur-
ance can not go ; and let him not drive this brave, generous
and patriotic people to madness and despair." He ex-
pects Van Buren to repeat this to Jackson!

As Clay resumes his seat, Van Buren calls a Senator to
the dais. The Vice President steps down and trips gayly
along the aisle in the direction of Clay, who glares at
him. "May I have a pinch of your fine snuff?" Martin in-
quires of Clay. The Senator turns scarlet, for he knows
the "Red Fox of Kinderhook" has by this trick destroyed
the dramatic effect of his speech. Clay dives into his waist-
coat pocket, produces the little box and slaps it on his
desk. Van Buren picks it up gracefully, takes a sniff, bows
low before the Senator from Kentucky and resumes his
seat on the dais.

5
In April, 1834, the House votes to uphold Jackson. Also
it orders that a new investigation be made of the conduct
of the Bank. A committee of seven is appointed and begins
its labors. The Bank, accordingly, appoints a committee of
seven to "co-operate" with the House committee. After
spending some time in the marble palace, the Congres-
sional committee decides its task is hopeless. On every

376

THE END OF THE REIGN

hand it is blocked by the Bank which, by one subterfuge
or another, decHnes to produce its books. It appears that it
is not a question of the Bank having anything to hide, as
much as it is Biddle's resentment of the investigation,
coupled with the House's vote upholding Jackson.

Whereupon, the committee returns to Washington, files
its report of no progress, and recommends that Emperor
Nicholas and several of his directors be arrested ''and
brought to the bar of this House, to answer for the con-
tempt of its lawful authority."

Congress boils on and on, until all the oratorical pots
run dry and crack in the wheeze of adjournment. The cam-
paign for the elections of 1834 is on. Riots, arson and
pitched battles mark this struggle of democracy. In Phila-
delphia, the Democrats exchange shots with the Whigs
and burn and sack their headquarters. Biddle and his
family leave the city in haste, and guns and bayonets de-
fend his Bank. But the Whigs are defeated sufficiently
throughout the country to cause Webster to accept the ver-
dict as final as regards the Bank. Thurlow Weed, able
Whig journaHst, of the ''Albany Journal," says of the
result : "There is one cause for congratulations, con-
nected with the recent election, in which even we partici-
pate. It has terminated the United States Bank war."
Gradually, this opinion is adopted by all the political re-
tainers of Biddle, and the Bank is left to its fate. In both
the Senate and House, the Administration is strengthened
by the election.

Actually, Jackson knows nothing about banking, and
in the course of the battle he has advanced many wild
theories. But then he has fought to crush the Bank, not

377

ANDREW JACKSON

to reform it. Biddle's fight was lost when he refused to
remove the branch bank president at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, and appoint in his place a Jackson man, at the
request of Ike Hill. That stubbornness of Biddle's led
Jackson to the killing, and resulted in changing the cur-
rency system of the United States. Moreover, Biddle's
advisers — Clay, Calhoun and Webster — knew so little of
the psychology of the masses that they deluded themselves
into believing they could rally the people to the support
of Biddle and his Bank, while their idol — Andrew Jack-
son — stood firmly against these twain.

The Bank limps along for a while, under the laws of
Pennsylvania, and then crashes. Biddle, also, passes. Jack-
son lives to see the Emperor dead and buried. William
Cullen Bryant, editor of the ''New York Evening Post,'*
remarks : "He died at his country seat where he passed
the last of his days in elegant retirement, which, if justice
had taken place, would have been spent in the peni-
tentiary." Poetic justice? A trifle severe.

The closing years of General Jackson's reign — for reign
it has been — are marked with political hydrophobia, dis-
closures of wholesale looting and grafting in the Post-
Office Department and further triumphs of the President.
The imbroglio between the United States and France, to
which reference already has been made, consumed the
time of Congress from 1834 to 1836. This diplomatic bat-
tle, which several times threatened to become actual war,
Jackson won, virtually single-handed; the part that Con-
gress played was to do all in its power to create a con-

378

THE END OF THE REIGN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

stant backfire at home and attempt to convince France that
the President's course did not have the sanction of the
people. But the King of France knew better, and payments
began on the American spoliation claims before Jackson
left office. During the French crisis, his Secretary of State
was John Forsyth, of Georgia.

As Congress assembles after the 1834 elections, the
Whigs, embittered by their defeat, are determined to de-
liver at least one blow to the Administration. They do not
have to look far to find the target. The Post Office De-
partment is corrupt to the core. Major Barry, who has sur-
vived all the Cabinet disruptions, is a pliant, hail-fellow-
well-met official, personally honest, but utterly incompetent
to manage the rapidly increasing business of the post-office.
Individuals and firms who have obtained contracts for
hauling the mail have robbed the government right and
left, and pulled the wool over Barry's eyes. An investiga-
tion by Congress results in a report that the government
has been robbed of eight hundred thousand dollars by the
contractors. Postmasters themselves, in many instances,
work hand-in-glove with the contractors and share the
loot. Those who are caught are dismissed, and those who
think they will be caught, resign.

No charge of personal dishonesty attaches to Barry,
who is given the mission to Spain and dies en route. Amos
Kendall becomes Postmaster General. Kendall goes to the
root of the corruption and brings order, honesty and ef-
ficiency into the department before he retires.

It is under Kendall, however, that a strange ruling is
made with respect to the right of northern publishers to
circulate Abolition literature in the southern states. Cal-

379

ANDREW JACKSON

houn is as responsible as any for bringing this issue to the
front, for he devotes much of his time and eloquence in
producing sectional feeling over slavery. It appears that
the postmaster at Charleston, South Carolina, has been
threatened if he continues to deliver Abolition literature,
vv^hich worms its way into the hands of the slaves, the
majority of whom can neither read nor write. But they
can understand the pictures that invariably accompany
the text.

The Charleston postmaster asks Kendall for instruc-
tions. He says that already he has destroyed hundreds of
bundles of Abolition newspapers and magazines addressed
to southern subscribers.

It is unlikely that Kendall would fail to consult Jackson
on this important matter. Kendall writes to the postmaster
at Charleston, saying: "I can not sanction, and will not
condemn the step you have taken." No public or private
issue that Jackson ever faced was straddled in this shame-
less manner. Every postmaster south of Washington is
thus set up as the censor of what is good for southerners
to read.

It is quite possible that General Jackson, himself a
southerner and the owner of many slaves, foresees the
approach of this dreaded issue and, already weary to
exhaustion, desires to pass the matter on to his successors.

In 1835, there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court bench.
It has been the life ambition of Roger B. Taney to achieve
that office. Jackson sends Taney's name to the Senate, but
that body does not even deign to notice it. It was Taney's
skill as Secretary of the Treasury, backed up all the way

380

THE END OF THE REIGN

by Jackson's imperious and implacable will, that broke the
Bank. But Jackson bides his time. Before the next Con-
gress meets, Chief Justice Marshall dies. The President
nominates Taney, and the Senate, wherein the Adminis-
tration now commands a majority, confirms the nomina-
tion.

Chief Justice Taney will preside over the Supreme
Court until 1864. Attached to his name and to his pen will
be the Dred Scott decision, which the Civil War will erase
in a sea of blood.

In his message to Congress in 1835, the President
says: ^'Every branch of labor we see crowned with the
most abundant rewards; in every element of national re-
sources and wealth, and individual comfort, we witness
the most rapid and solid improvement." He announces
that the public debt is paid, and that there is a surplus
in the Treasury of eleven million dollars.

It was at the beginning of this year — January 30, 1835
— that an attempt to assassinate Jackson was made in the
Capitol, where he went to attend the funeral of a Con-
gressman. After the services, the President, surrounded by
friends, was passing through the rotunda when the luna-
tic, Lawrence, sprang forth and planted himself in front
of the President. He aims his pistol, point blank at the
President, but the weapon does not explode. Jackson lifts
his cane to strike the assassin who has been knocked down
even before the blow falls. Of course, political capital is
made of the incident by the Jacksonians. The President
himself insists that Lawrence was the tool of the Bank
and the opposition in Congress. He continues to believe

381

ANDREW JACKSON

this, despite the report of the physicians who examine the
demented Lawrence, who tells them that Jackson has de-
prived him of the British crown.

The time is drawing near for the President to put aside
his ''robes of office." After the manner of Washington, he
prepares a Farewell Address, which excites the derision
of his enemies and endears him to his friends.

*'My own race," he says, "is nearly run; advanced age
and failing health warn me that before long I must pass
beyond the reach of human events, and cease to feel the
vicissitudes of human affairs. I thank God that my life has
been spent in a land of liberty, and that He has given me
a heart to love my country with the affection of a son.
And filled with gratitude for your constant and unwaver-
ing kindness, I bid you a last and affectionate farewell."

The reception accorded this valedictory by the opposi-
tion is not unlike that which greeted Washington's Fare-
well Address when Jackson, then of the opposition, was
a member of Congress.

It remains for the "New York American" to express
the opposition's opinion of Andrew Jackson's last ut-
terance as President :

"Happily it is the last humbug which the mischievous
popularity of this illiterate, violent, vain, and iron-willed
soldier can impose upon a confiding and credulous people."

It is March 4, 1837. General Jackson, so weak that he
can scarcely totter out of bed, is astir early. He is going

382

ANDREW JACKSON

As President, about 1835

THE END OF THE REIGN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

to participate in another event which he properly regards
as his personal triumph. He rides in his coach to the
Capitol. Sun drenches the streets with its warmth. Along
Pennsylvania Avenue, one of the few thoroughfares that
is paved, throngs of people cheer Andrew Jackson. The
aged and enfeebled man bows to the right and to the left.

The man whom Jackson made Chief Justice of the
United States administers the oath to Martin Van Buren,
who Jackson has made President of the United States.

In a few days. General Jackson departs from Washing-
ton. He takes with him Rachel's picture, her Bible, ninety
dollars — all that he has saved out of his eight years'
salary — and Earle, Rachel's protege and for the last eight
years painter at the "Court of King Andrew I."

His last day in Washington is spent at the home of
Blair, who has been a main prop of the Jackson reign.
Jackson expresses two regrets : that he never had an op-
portunity to shoot Clay, or to hang Calhoun.

383

^p'^K^IP^I^^^^^^^'^^^^^^-^p^p-^p^^^p^p-^pv^p'^p-^p^ip^^

Chapter XXX
TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED

HOME is the Hermitage !
Nashville provides an impressive welcome for
the Old Warrior, as her citizens had done for thirty years,
on every occasion of his return from the wars and civil
strife. On this occasion, he is met in the cedars near Leba-
non. The old men, among whom he has fought and gam-
bled at the race track and at the cock-pit, are ranged in
front, and the boys and youths in the rear. There are
speeches of welcome by the leading citizens ; then a young
man steps forward and addresses the General. He tells
him that the children of his old soldiers and friends wel-
come him home, and are ready to serve under his banner.

General Jackson bows his head on his cane and the
tears stream down his cheeks. 'T could have stood all but
this, it is too much, too much," he says, and totters away.

The General is seventy years old. When he went to
Washington to begin his term as President, he had in his
pocket five thousand dollars. His salary was twenty-five
thousand dollars a year. His plantation was in a prosper-
ous condition and he thought it would yield him a steady
income in addition to his salary. The reports from his

384

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED

overseer from time to time convinced him that the farm
needed his personal attention to be profitable. General
Jackson always has been a generous host. He entertained
lavishly at the White House, despite his continuous wars
with Congress. He would never permit his friends to put
up at taverns when they came to Washington. They were
his personal guests at the Executive Mansion. His liquor
bills alone ran into many thousands of dollars — and Gen-
eral Jackson was never more than a moderate drinker.
During his second term, the Hermitage was destroyed
by fire and many of his relics were consumed in the flames.
He ordered the Hermitage rebuilt on the old plans.

His adopted son, who leaned to gambling, cost Jackson
more than he ever kept record of; but the General's af-
fection for Andrew never cooled, and he paid his son's
debts without a murmur. There were relatives of Rachel's
to whom he dispensed his personal funds with princely
hands; no record was kept of these contributions — and
Jackson was always meticulous in keeping accounts of
his receipts and expenditures. His friends had only to ask
him for money to get it.

He is much poorer now, after eight years as President,
than when he took the office. Writing to a friend, he de-
clares it has been necessary for him to sell a tract of his
land, confining his estate to his own homestead, in order
that he might make the necessary repairs about the planta-
tion, and purchase corn for a new crop. By the sale of this
tract he is able to pay ofif his debts. All his life he has
held the view that debt places a mortgage upon the debtor's
honor, and deprives him of his moral freedom.

The General has scarcely seated himself in his favorite

385

ANDREW JACKSON

arm chair when he learns that more trouble is in the air.
''George Jackson,'^ one of his favorite slaves, is accused
of killing another slave in the course of a battle among
the Blacks. George is in jail at Nashville, facing a charge
of murder. The General goes to interview George in the
jail. After protracted examinations, he satisfies himself of
George's innocence. He employs the ablest counsel in
Nashville to defend his humble friend. Besides employing
these lawyers, Jackson, scarcely able to walk, drives to
Nashville every day for nearly six weeks to help the at-
torneys prepare the case. He is determined to spend his
last cent to save this black man's life, which is not con-
sidered important in a white man's court in Tennessee in
1839. ''George Jackson" is acquitted. Could the verdict
have been otherwise, with Andrew Jackson sponsoring his
cause? The case costs him fifteen hundred dollars — a lot
of money in 1839.

Many are the days that General Jackson becomes remi-
niscent. If friends are near, he will talk interminably and,
albeit, strongly, and interestingly, of the old days. Should
he find himself alone when memories surge up in his mind,
he will commit them to paper as letters to his friends.
Such an one is his letter to President Van Buren:

"The approbation I have received from the people every-
where on my return home on the close of my official life,
has been a source of much gratification to me. I have been
met at every point by numerous democratic-republican
friends, and many repenting whigs, with a hearty welcome
and expressions of 'well done thou faithful servant.' This

386

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED

is truly the patriot's reward, the summit of my gratifica-
tion, and will be my solace to my grave. When I review the
arduous administration through which I have passed, the
formidable opposition, to its very close, of the combined
talents, wealth and power of the whole aristocracy of the
United States, aided as it is, by the monied monopolies of
the whole country, with their corrupting influence, with
which we had to contend, I am truly thankful to my God
for this happy result. It displays the virtue and power
of the sovereign people, and that all must bow to their
will. But it was the voice of this sovereign will that so
nobly sustained us against this formidable power and
enabled me to pass through my administration so as to
meet its approbation."

Upon another occasion, he has a long talk at the Her-
mitage with a friend from Jacksonport, Jackson County,
Arkansas. The question of the removal of the Indians
from southern states into the far West is discussed ; Jack-
son defends his policy for the removal on the ground of
economic and social necessity in the interest of the whites,
as well as humanity to the Red men.

And then the old Indian fighter makes this admission:
''Ever}^ war we had with the Indians was brought on by
frontier ruffians, who stole their horses, oppressed, de-
frauded or persecuted the Indians. This caused them to
unbury the hatchet, and their massacres plunged innocent
people in all the horrors and cruelties of war." It would
have been impossible for Jackson to have had this point
of view while he was burning Indian villages and slaugh-
tering the inhabitants following the attack upon Fort
Mims.

387

ANDREW JACKSON

The General had promised Rachel that he would join
the church. Up to now he has been too busy to give at-
tention to the matter; but he has kept in touch with af-
fairs of the spirit through the almost daily reading of her
Bible. Religion with him is purely an emotional affair,
and he is now carried all the way under its influence as a
result of attending revival meetings in Nashville.

There are plenty of references in Jackson's state papers
and letters to ''the intervention of Providence," etc., etc.
He believes there is a God who presides over a heaven,
and he is quite sure that Rachel is among the favored
angels. He wants to be wherever her benign spirit reposes ;
also, he wants to avoid as far as possible, after this life,
the chance of meeting the roaming spirits of Clay, Cal-
houn, Webster, Adams, and a long line of other foes who
pestered him while on earth. He is certain that these gen-
tlemen and those of their ilk will fry in hell for ever.
Therefore, to escape the odors arising from the cooking of
his enemies, Andrew Jackson chooses to go to heaven.

He calls in the parson, and for many hours they talk
about the matter in the deepening shadows of the little
church in the garden of the Hermitage. The General
says : *T would long since have made this solemn public
dedication to Almighty God, but knowing the wretched-
ness of this world, and how prone many are to evil, that
the scoffer of religion would have cried out — 'hypocrisy!
He has joined the church for political effect,' I thought it
best to postpone this public act until my retirement to the

388

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

shades of private life, when no false imputation could be
made that might be injurious to religion/'

The General answers satisfactorily the usual questions
with respect to doctrine and experience. Then, the Pres-
byterian clergyman pops a question that takes the candi-
date for churchly honors off his guard and all but floors
him.

''General," says the pastor, "there is one more question
which it is my duty to ask you. Can you forgive all your
enemies?" Jackson sits bolt upright. He fixes a stern eye
upon the countenance of the minister. There is a pause.
Then Jackson replies that he is willing to forgive his
political enemies, but not those who abused him ''when
I was serving my country in the field." The minister
shakes his head sadly and says it will not do. The General
must come clean. He must harbor no personal enmity
toward a single living being. There is another pause. Jack-
son reflects that he has gotten himself into an awful fix.
Finally, he announces that he is willing to forgive all his
enemies collectively, but not individually. He is duly ac-
cepted as a member of the Presbyterian church, the faith
of his fathers.

In a little while, his friend Earle passes away. The Gen-
eral is shocked and mourns the death of his friend as if
he were his own son. Gradually, the garden of the Her-
mitage is becoming a little cemetery. He writes to his
friend Blair : "I am taught to submit to what Providence
chooses, with humble submission. He giveth, and He

389

ANDREW JACKSON

taketh away, and blessed be His name, for He doeth all
things well." Like Rachel, the Old Warrior is beginning
to quote Scripture. In the old days his pistols and his
blazing wrath were his rod and his staff. Now he gazes
upon the graves in his garden as the sun slopes beyond the
rim, and looks to God.

There are times, however, when the old fire returns.
President Van Buren, facing the end of his term and
desiring another, expresses the wish to make a tour of the
country and pay a visit to his political mentor. The Gen-
eral perks up and writes to "Matty" to come along. Polk,
however, thinks it would not look right. He tells Van
Buren the country will say Jackson is dictating to the Ad-
ministration. The question is referred to Jackson for a de-
cision. He replies bluntly : ''My course has always been to
put my enemies at defiance, and pursue my own course."
But the ''Red Fox" is of a different stripe. He does not
come.

Van Buren, although the embodiment of Jacksonian
policies, is a wily politician who somehow missed the
higher dignity of becoming a stateman. He is honest and
tries to do what is right, but he has not the confidence of
the people, and he lacks both charm and boldness, which
Jackson possessed in abundance. The Whigs in 1840
nominate General William Henry Harrison, of Indiana,
for President, and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice
President. Tyler rightly is a Jackson man, but he broke
with the party on the Nullification issue, and also on the
withdrawal of deposits from the Bank. Later on, Tyler
will try to stage a come-back into the Democratic Party
as its leader and its candidate for President in 1844; but

390

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED

Jackson will block this. Tyler, he will say, must first pay
penance. Result: Tyler is not elected in 1844.

Concerning General Harrison, Jackson is angry. It is
clear that his membership in the church does not stand in
the way when an enemy is to be affronted and humbled.

The General spends days on end writing letters to
political leaders telling them when and how they must
stop the Presidential pretensions of General Harrison.
He carries on a campaign in behalf of Van Buren's re-
election, but it is a lost cause. Before the result is known,
Jackson writes an ugly letter about Harrison's military
ability, and exclaims : ''May the Lord have mercy upon us
if we have a war during his Presidency." Neither has he
forgotten his tilt with General Scott. He calls him "a
pompous nullity."

In April, 1841, President Harrison dies, Tyler ascends,
and Jackson rejoices that "a kind Providence has inter-
vened." He writes to Blair, saying that Harrison and his
Cabinet were preparing to destroy the Union ''under the
direction of the profligate demagogue Henry Clay."-

5
There are visitors aplenty at the Hermitage. His son
and family long have been installed in the spacious man-
sion. Donelson and his family frequently are under the
roof. The General, prostrate most of the time and in great
pain, delights in the merry laughter of the children romp-
ing in the great halls and sliding down the banisters.
Guests come and go. The General bids them stay as long
as they choose. In the General's room there is a huge
arm chair, and in this he sits when he is too ill even to go

391

ANDREW JACKSON

down stairs. On the mantelpiece repose his two pistols,
relics of brighter and bloodier days. A guest picks up
one of them and examines it. 'That," says the General,
casually, *'is the pistol with which I killed Mr. Dickinson."
He resumes the reading of his newspaper.

In 1842, a bill is introduced in the Senate to remit the
fine of one thousand dollars laid on Jackson for con-
tempt of Judge Hall in New Orleans in 181 5. The General
is elated. His letters go forth to his party men to support
this bill with energy. He insists upon its passage as a
matter of his vindication. For two years the bill is debated
in Congress, and in the interim the Senator who intro-
duced it dies. The bill is finally passed on February 16,
1844, and a check for two thousand seven hundred and
thirty-two dollars, representing the principal and inter-
est, is sent to the Hermitage. Calhoun votes to remit the
fine. But Jackson waves no olive branch in the direction
of his enemy.

As the campaign of 1844 approaches, the enfeebled
Warrior is again active ; this time in behalf of James K.
Polk. Once more the General's letters booming Polk fill
the columns of Blair's *'Globe" and are reprinted in the
Democratic press with all the dignity of the Word handed
down from Sinai. Polk is elected. But it was Jackson,
not Polk, who defeated Henry Clay. Sweet victory! At
once Jackson is urged by many old friends and an equal
number of new ones to use his influence with Polk to get
jobs for them. Among these is his old friend, Amos Ken-
dall. Amos is broke, and he seeks the mission to Spain,
which appears to be quite popular with the Democrats.

Jackson, while not wishing to be placed in the position

392

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED

of dictating to the President, still finds it in his heart to
ask this favor for his friend. Now, the Minister to Spain
is Washington Irving. Jackson knows this, and writes to
Polk : "There can be no delicacy in recalling Irving. He is
only fit to write a book and scarcely that, and he has
become a good Whig."

In March, 1845, Commodore Elliot makes a speech at
Washington. He says he has brought home from Pales-
tine, in the Constitution, an Oriental sarcophagus believed
to contain the body of the Roman Emperor, Alexander Se-
verus. The Commodore is moved to write to Jackson about
this. 'T pray you," he says, "to live on in the fear of the
Lord; dying the death of a Roman soldier; an Emperor's
coffin awaits you."

The General replies promptly, with solemn dignity. "I
must decline accepting the honor intended to be bestowed.
I can not consent that my mortal body shall be laid in a
repository prepared for an emperor or a king. My republi-
can feelings and principles forbid it; the simplicity of our
system of government forbids it. True virtue can not
exist where pomp and parade are the governing passions ;
it can only dwell with the people — the great laboring and
producing classes that form the bone and sinew of our
confederacy. I have prepared an humble depository for
my mortal body beside that wherein lies my beloved
wife."

In his last year — 1845 — General Jackson suffers such
torture as few men are called upon to bear. The com-
bination — tuberculosis and dropsy — keeps him suspended

393

ANDREW JACKSON

between exquisite misery and the grave. He does not com-
plain. He takes it all in good part, fully realizing that
recovery is impossible and that death will bring peace at
last. Virtually his last act is to sign an appeal for a pen-
sion for an old soldier who fought beside him in the War
of 1812. One of his last letters is to his old friend, Frank
Blair, of which this is an extract: "This may be the last
letter I may be able to write you. But live or die I am your
friend (and never deserted one for policy) — and I leave
my papers and reputation in your keeping. As far as justice
is due to my fame, I know you will shield it. I ask no
more. I rest upon truth, and require nothing but what
truth will mete to me. All my household join me in kind
wishes for your health & prosperity, and that of your
family & that you may triumph over all enemies — May
God's choicest blessings be bestowed upon you and yrs
thro life, is the prayer of yr sincere friend."

He rallies and requests that when the hour strikes, his
friend Major Lewis shall be sent for. He speaks of Texas,
and praises Sam Houston, declaring that to him the coun-
try owes ''the recovery of Texas."

It is June 8, 1845. Sunday. The sun is brilliant. The
day is hot. A Negro boy stands beside the General, fan-
ning him. The members of his household gather about his
bed. To each and every one the dying man bids farewell.
His slaves tip-toe across the porch. They tread quietly into
the house and are admitted into the presence of the Old
Warrior whom they love not as a master but as a friend.

They weep. Others press their faces against the window

394

o ^

K a

i-O

TIME FOR A LIFE IS CLOSED
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

panes, expecting the General to creep down stairs once
more. The General hears the Negroes sobbing.

''What is the matter with my dear children? Have I
alarmed you? Do not cry, dear children, and we all will
meet in heaven — all — white and black."

Major Lewis, companion in arms, friend in the long
years of civil tumult, comes and slips into the room. He
sits beside his old Commander.

"I am glad to see you, Major," says Jackson. "You had
like to have been too late." There is a long pause.

''Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my
wife there," he whispers so softly that the words are
scarcely audible.

The Old Warrior falls into the long sleep.

395

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The bibliography of Andrew Jackson is one of the most
extensive that attaches to any American. His first biography
was begun by Major Reid, who died before the task was
completed. It was continued by John H. Eaton, friend and
neighbor of the subject, and later a member of his Cabinet.
The Eaton biography, originally published in 1818, was
reprinted in 1824 to assist Jackson in his first campaign for
the Presidency.

The Eaton book, noted for the omission of material un-
favorable and embarrassing to Jackson, was for many years
the basis of all popular biographies of the Tennesseean.
There were at least a dozen Jackson books available between
1818 and 1845. Some of them were little more than political
tracts, written either by his friends or his enemies. These
were supplemented by hundreds of pamphlets that dealt with
the current issues that arose during his Presidency.

The printing press in the Jackson period was busier than
it had been during any previous Presidency. His reign
probably produced more political writers and caricaturists
than had appeared in all the previous Administrations com-
bined.

The material about Jackson and his period is mountainous.
It is sufficient to give pause to the biographer who attempts
to sift it in seeking for the residue that represents and speaks
for the man. In reconstructing the character of Andrew
Jackson and setting forth his story within that framework,
vast quantities of this source of material have been available
and much of it has been useful to the present writer.

Several authors have used Jackson as the hero for his-

397

ANDREW JACKSON

torical romance. Of course, such treatment is of no assistance
either to the historian or the biographer.

The present writer has concerned himself with the single
task of telling Andrew Jackson's story; or, perhaps, what is
more accurate, letting Jackson's story tell itself. In this en-
deavor he has availed himself of historical documents,
original manuscripts and letters, and the following volumes :

Life of Andrew Jackson. By James Parton. Three vol-
umes. i860.

Life of Andrew Jackson. By John Spencer Bassett. 191 1.

Life of Andrew Jackson. By John H. Eaton. 1824.

Andrew Jackson As A Public Man. By William Graham
Sumner. 1897.

Pictorial Life of Andrew Jackson. By John Frost, LL.D.
1847.

Life and Public Services of General Andrew Jackson.
By John S. Jenkins. 1880.

Party Battles of the Jackson Period. By Claude G.
Bowers. 1922.

The Life and Actions of Andrew Jackson. By A Free
Man. 183 1.

Annual Messages, Veto Messages, Protest, Etc., of An-
drew Jackson. 1835.

Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Edited by James
D. Richardson. 1896.

Correspondence of Andrew Jackson. Edited by John
Spencer Bassett. Three volumes. 1926-27-28.

Thomas Jefferson. By David Muzzey, 1918.

Memoirs of John Quincy Adams. Edited by C. F. Adams.
1876.

Thirty Years' View, 1820-1850. By Thomas H. Benton.
1861.

Life of John C. Calhoun. By John S. Jenkins.

Life of Henry Clay. By Carl Schurz. 1887.

Philip Hone. Diary. 1889.

Memoir of Roger B. Taney. By Samuel Tyler, 1872.

398

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Sam Houston, Colossus in Buckskin. By George Creel.
1928.

Albert Gallatin. By John Austin Stevens. 1883.

Autobiography of Martin Van Duren. Edited by John C.
Fitzpatrick. 1918.

Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster. 1852.

History of The United States. By Woodrow Wilson. Five
volumes. 1902.

A Retrospect of Western Travel. By Harriet Martineau.
Two volumes. 1839.

Society In America. Same. Two volumes. 1837.

Our Republic. By S. E. Forman. 1922.

The Outline Of History. By H. G. Wells. 1920.

The Rise of American Civilisation. By Charles A. Beard
and Mary R. Beard. Two volumes. 1927.

The Causes of The War of Independence. By Claude H.
Van Tyne. 1922.

The Workers In American History. By James Oneal. 192 1.

Law Tales For Laymen and Wayside Tales From Caro-
lina. By Joseph Lacy Seawell. 1925.

Special thanks are due for assistance to Esther Eberson
Karsner who read the manuscript and helped with proof-
reading.

David Karsner.

399

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